This past week my above-titled series ran on Barbwire.com. Here’s the open of part 1 with a link to the 2nd and 3rd installments:
First up I need to thank my friend John Sullivan in Palatine, Illinois, for bringing the information below to my attention. For a long time I’ve recognized that the problem with American politics is, from start to finish, a personnel problem. Any conservative paying attention knows that there are ways to clean up every public policy mess we face. What’s been missing is the team to enact those solutions.
What I’ve assumed was that the issue was merely competence, and while it is mostly, that’s not the complete story. Many of the talented people who get themselves elected actually do have the ability to get the job done if they cared to; the problem is they don’t care to — often because of psychological reasons. We’re not just talking about run-of-the-mill mental issues either. In a lot of cases there is an actual brain structure problem. Not all crazy people are in asylums or in prison.
In the past I’ve also made the observation that politics is a magnet for nuts, flakes, and fruits. Normal people don’t crave the limelight or public attention that often comes with politics, and in fact, the more normal they are the more they try to steer clear of it. Many individuals with personality disorders, however, aren’t satisfied with private life or business and are drawn to the public square.
While I haven’t seen anyone addressing in any depth this topic of brain and mental disorders among our political class, there has been a good deal of writing about psychopathy within corporate America since the Wall Street collapse of 2008.
