At Common Dreams, David Schwartz points out that the United States is now run, for the most part, by psychopaths, people who are “smart, personable, and engaging, but who have no consciences . . . [They] suffer no remorse, no guilt, no shame.” They look normal from the outside, and you can only really know them by the effects of their actions. In short, they are quite capable of appearing affable, and their PR machines are well-tuned to make it look like these psychopaths “care.” The problem is that they have become busier than ever creating a world in their own image and likeness, and we are all paying a huge price for this, both in actual damage, but even more in lost opportunities to invest in an economically and socially sustainable version of America. He points out that the corporate/government of the United States has become “a perfect habitat for psychopaths.” He quotes Kurt Vonnegut, from A Man Without a Country, in point out the main problems with psychopathic leaders:
. . . they are so decisive. They are going to do something every fuckin’ day and they are not afraid. Unlike normal people, they are never filled with doubts, for the simple reason that they don’t give a fuck what happens next. Simply can’t. Do this! Do that! Mobilize the reserves! Privatize the public schools! Attack Iraq! Cut health care! Tap everybody’s telephone! Cut taxes on the rich!
The pyschopaths in charge of the U.S. have the perfect skill sets for destroying most of the country in order to profit from it:
In a country in which much of human culture has been rendered into machines for the manufacture of money, psychopaths are the ideal leaders. They are very focused. They are outcome oriented. They are frequently charming, and usually very bright and able. They can lay off thousands of people, or deny people health care, or have them waterboarded, and it does not disturb their sleep. They can be impressively confident. Psychopaths can be dynamic leaders of enterprises, but are handicapped by their lack of feelings for relationships. They may be accomplished captains of industry, or senators, or surgeons, but their families are frequently abused and miserable. Most psychotherapists have seen the wives or husband or children of such accomplished people.
Since psychopaths are usually very smart, they can be quite competent at impersonating regular human beings in positions of power. Since they don’t care how their actions affect people, they can rise to great height in enterprises dealing with power and money. They can manufacture bombs or run hospitals. Whatever the undertaking, it is all the same to them. It’s just business.
Our existing political/corporate/media dystopia has now become so incredibly inhospitable to well-intentioned empathetic normal people rising to leadership positions that it’s difficult to envision how to bring about substantial and lasting improvement anymore. In short, very few good people are willing to destroy their families and reputations running for national office. The trick is to reverse this trend. I would attack the problem by getting private money out of the elections system. I would do this by promoting clean-money elections, for instance. This particular problem is where the United States Supreme Court has become, perhaps, the most nefarious contributor to the problem (and see this statement by Bernie Sanders). And note that the United States Supreme Court has already dealt a death knell to meaningful clean-money election systems.
Of course I’m not arguing that our political and corporate leaders are diagnosed psychopaths; rather, they are functional psychopaths. I’m assuming that their psychopathy is situational, though it’s not necessarily conscious, and it’s driven by the money and authority/threats of which the politicians and corporate leaders are exposed every day. That’s my assumption–that if you yank these terrible decision-makers out of their current environments, they would be defanged. They might make decent child-rearing tax-paying neighbors. I agree with Hannah Arendt that the majority of heinous evil flows from the failure to think, consequently the failure to empathize. These people are daily exposed to situations that very much encourage them to wear attentional blinders. This situation also reminds me of the Milgram experiment , where authority figures similarly functioned as attentional blinders, leading to terrible decision-making. I’ve written extensively on my belief that many dramatic “moral lapses” result from ill-advised attentional strategies; we engage in heuristics to get us through the day, for good and bad, and our attention is easily warped by the existence of money and power. For a lot more on low level lapses leading to “moral” lapses, consider also this excellent talk by Phillip Zimbardo. The bottom line is that Washington DC is a toxic stew into which we immerse vulnerable human beings, some of them severely damaged goods even before they set foot in DC.
I wish I could say that the People will rise up to clean out this insanity, this psychopathy, but they would need a vigorous, wide-open, well-intentioned media to carry this out, yet our media is largely corporate-owned, which means that it is extremely hard for non-monied outsiders to get any momentum. The logical next-step would be to use the powerful tools of the Internet to consolidate the power of ordinary citizens to deal with this issue, but the People are so wrapped up in abject consumerism that it is difficult to get sufficient numbers of people to care, and the FCC has been more than happy to sell out on net neutrality, putting at risk what is perhaps the last potential means to take on the psychopaths in an organized way.
These are all extremely difficult hurdles, but they are surmountable, especially when the psychopaths bring us down to a low enough point . . . I believe, they are close to doing when they blatantly propose “reforming” Medicare and Social Security in ways that pisses off even members of the Tea Party.
More fuel for the fire. This is more evidence that ordinary people do not run this government, despite the proclamation, "We the People." This time the topic is formaldehyde. http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/now-david-…
When there are very few values in common it will always seem like the wrong people are trying to tell you when to jump and how high.
I agree with much of what you have to say, but its because "secular values" have no way of remaining as long as you can think you are electing someone who has you convinced they can bring lasting change which will be exactly the way you would like it.
Karl,
A friend of mine, well schooled in governmental studies, likes to point out that the most stable and lasting from of government is the oligarchy.
The nature of democracy is such that it is ever changing to adapt to address the needs of the governed, which leaves it open to being commandeered by special interests of the wealthiest.
Today, we have the wealthiest of the worrld hiding behind multinational corporations controlling governments around the world to feed their greed. Like the siege towers of medieval warfare, protect them while they destroy the very foundations of our government, so they can plunder the power, control and wealth of nations protected by government.
Yes they feel no remorse, because they think themselves gods. They fear no one and with their limitless hubris they are legends in their own minds. Uunfortunately, they have a following, mainly of people to whom the undeliverable promise great prosperity, the chance of winning is more important than the benefits of a stable, sound economy.
There are several countries that have suffered under the capitalist utopias promoted by the neoconservative movement. Nigeria, Somalia, and Saipan are just three. Keep in mind that any style of economic management, when carried to the extreme is bad. Capitalism is explicitly antidemocratic in nature, governments patterned in the image of business are inherently anti-social. So for the best balance, government, which by necessity must hold a monopoly, should champion the needs of the many as a counterweight to the greed of the few.
How to spot a psychopath.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/21/jon-r…
Einstein said crazy people keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.
So, Republicans want to give corporations and the ultra-rich ANOTHER round of tax breaks so they'll invest and spur economic development (this while "incentivising" the poor by cutting cash benefits!).
30 plus years of Reagan, Bush I and Bush II's tax breaks for corporations and the ultra-rich have shown Republicans nothing; they keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.
I recently saw a lecture at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in which the speaker gave an hour-long talk about psychopathy. He'd done a lot of research in the prison system, because about 25% of incarcerated prisoners are considered to be psychopaths, versus less than 1% in the outside world.
Anyway, at one point in his talk he suggested that many corporate CEOs could be considered psychopaths. For support, he pointed to the Hare Psychopathy Checklist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare_Psychopathy_Checklist). Check it out for yourself and see if you don't agree. The checklist works by asking if each trait applies to the person, then counting up the number of traits that are found to apply. More than about 15 out of the 21 and you've probably got yourself a psychopath.
Niklaus,
An oligarchy can only survive if there are no weapons in the hands of those who do not share their values. When leaders of an oligarchy have the blessings of the military, you will see their power corrupt so they will only permit/allow hand picked replacements.
I would however agree that the amoral corporations and any hedge fund profit margin specialists that have as their main concern the production of any kind of an increase in their bottom line are not what is desired by a moral people.
The current batch of corporate financiers/bankers/hedge fund investors are the behind the scenes leaders/rulers that are attempting to direct the affairs of a modern day international oligarchy or New World Order. But the New World Order that is emerging has no basic core values that I can determine other than "he who has the money rules." They want to destroy all national sovereignty and make everyone and every nation a debtor to those that have plucked them of their money through currency speculation and nation destabilization.
They destabilize nations by encouraging democracies, dictatorships and any other type of ongoing form of government to permit and encourage open pursuit of conflict between those in their midst that already have differing values from one another. Then they use fear and financial leverage to make them bend their knee to them.
If the minorities an any nation band together and persist for long enough,
a new nation will emerge, but in this day and age the nations that are emerging are all looking like their emerging leaders have no idea that their nation is already a debtor to this New World Order itself.
If the minorities in America continue in open legal conflict with the values of this nation's Judeo-Christian heritage you will likely continue to see leaders elected that will claim to be able to solve our debt problem by pursuing such and such a fiscal policy. But the debt will not stop rising until people with their values "the majority" and other people with their values "the minorities" start to work together and not against one another.
Stirring up class envy, social strife and claims of unfairness is just what the New World Order thrives upon. It is consuming countries and their leaders at an unheralded pace over the past several years.
Are you are seeking to replace one oligarchy with another, and if so, whose values would you wish to be the core values of these leaders? What means do you have to assure yourself the current international leaders have any sort of morals that would be acceptable to you.
The methods they are using right now appear to not match your values, so what makes you think they will one day appoint their new replacement leaders that will give you warm fuzzies all over?
Ben, thanks for the good story.
Tim, need I remind you that most Democrats are functional equivalents of Republicans? Why do you insist that this is a Democrat vs. Republican problem when there are only a relative handful of thoughtful and honest voices to be found in all of Congress?
Ben and Grumpypilgrim, thank to both of you for offering the Hare test, which tends to focus on many of the trait common to executives and political leaders. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare_Psychopathy_Che…
Here's another example of how psychopaths would run the country, from an article in the L.A. Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-…
Those who acknowledge only the utilitarian view of the conscience lead others into psychopathy.
http://www.cassiopaea.com/cassiopaea/psychopath.h…
Erich, some (very few) Democrats are what I call Republicrats and not much different than Republicans. I didn't see the Democratic Party advocating more and more tax breaks for the corporations and the ultra-rich, running up the national debt by nearly $11 trillion, advocating more and more tax breaks for corporations and the ultra-rich by lowering the marginal rates so as to run up another $14 trillion like Pawlenty. There are certainly criticisms to lodge with the Democrats but to equate them with the Republicans is ignoring reality (like a Republican!).
Tim: Why isn't the Democratic party speaking out on the wasteful wars, government spying, corrupt campaign finance system, net neutrality, too-big-too-fail Wall Street Banks? Though I know many Democrats would disagree with me, I would add a terribly formulated "health care reform" bill. I could go on and on. The Republicans are 90% screwed up in my opinion and the Democrats are 70% screwed up, and content with the status quo. There is massive overlap, and neither of these are passing grades. Allowing the Republicans to have their way is what the Democrats excel at. They need to stand up and advocate for the People. How about starting with "The People's Budget"? http://dangerousintersection.org/2011/04/14/the-m…
Here is what's really happening in this world of ours.
Here is where utilitarian ideas have gotten the world.
Many followers of utilitarian philosophy describe an oligarchy as the best and lasting form of government. But an oligarchy can only survive if there are no weapons in the hands of those who do not share their values. When leaders of an oligarchy have the blessings of the military, you will see their power corrupt so they will only permit/allow handpicked replacements.
The current state of international finance has permitted gambling with economies via "hedge" funds and currency speculation. The international amoral individuals and corporations as well as any hedge fund profit margin specialists that have as their main concern the production of any kind of an increase in their bottom line are not what is desired by a moral people.
The current batch of corporate financiers/bankers/hedge fund investors are the behind the scenes leaders/rulers that are attempting to direct the affairs of a modern day international oligarchy or New World Order. But the New World Order that is emerging has no basic core values that I can determine other than "he who has the money rules." They want to destroy all national sovereignty and make everyone and every nation a debtor to those that have plucked them of their money through currency speculation and nation destabilization.
They destabilize nations by encouraging democracies, dictatorships and any other type of ongoing form of government to permit and encourage open pursuit of conflict between those in their midst that already have differing values from one another. Then they use fear and financial leverage to make them bend their knee to them.
If the minorities an any nation band together and persist for long enough,
a new nation will emerge, but in this day and age the nations that are emerging are all looking like their emerging leaders have no idea that their nation is already a debtor to this New World Order itself.
If the minorities in America continue in open legal conflict with the values of this nation's Judeo-Christian heritage you will likely continue to see leaders elected that will claim to be able to solve our debt problem by pursuing such and such a fiscal policy. But the debt will not stop rising until people with their values "the majority" and other people with their values "the minorities" start to work together and not against one another.
Stirring up class envy, social strife and claims of unfairness is just what the New World Order thrives upon. It is consuming countries and their leaders at an unheralded pace over the past several years.
Utilitarian philosophers seek after an oligarchy which by the hope for moral standards that will provide the most good to the most people. The problem is they do not know what the real international oligarchy is doing even while their own nations crumble around them.
No matter what/whose values a utilitarian philosophy claims to possess, or even wishes to possess. It is the core values of the current oligarchy that will be the basis for whom will be chosen as their replacements? What means do you have to assure yourself the current international leaders have any sort of morals that would be acceptable to you.
The methods they are using right now appear to not match the values of the majority, so what makes you think they will one day appoint their new replacement leaders that will give you warm fuzzies all over?
under the DSM-IV guidelines, most of out politicians could be classified as either psychopaths or sociopaths. It does sseem that the Republican party is more hospitable to pyschopaths. Social conservatism in this nation emphasizes the individual, but there is no such animal as a nation of one.
It all relates to morality. A socially oriented person can have some empathy by asking, "Would I be harmed if someone else did this?" A sociopath however decrees. "If any else is harmed by this, they aren't worthy of it anyway."
Erich,
The simple answer is the truest—jobs. But not in the way being currently touted on campaign trails. To fix this system would require the kind of massive overhaul that could kill people. At least, that's the received wisdom. That and they both have a constituency that keeps telling to "fix it but don't change anything." But the truth is, we're at a cusp, and no one has the guts to admit that nothing either side is currently doing will work for very long.
Karl wrote, "They want to destroy all national sovereignty and make everyone and every nation a debtor to those that have plucked them of their money through currency speculation and nation destabilization."
Without delving into the perennial question of who "they" are, I agree with Karl's comment. In the past few decades, America has been turned into a nation of people buried under mountains of debt: personal debt, real estate debt, corporate debt and national debt. First it was personal debt in the '60s and '70s, as banks figured out how to plunder American consumerism. They're still playing that game, of course, with fees, fees and more fees designed to pick the pockets of anyone who uses a bank or credit card. In the '80s it was corporate raiders, draining decades of corporate equity straight into their own pockets and leaving corporate America owing billions in junk bonds. Real estate debt began in the '70s, when the industry figured out how to talk families with two incomes into buying costlier homes (with bigger mortgages), and blossomed as bigger houses, and eventually the McMansion, became popular. The past decade was the coup de grace: after driving Americans into debt everywhere else, the rich folks who bought the presidency for George W. succeeded in plundering the last thing they could plunder — the national treasury.
Meanwhile, middle class income has been stagnant for the past decade, as the rich folks who run big corporations (and control the government) happily give Americans loans instead of paychecks.
Unfortunately, most Americans never saw it coming, and most still don't see it. At election time, they continue to pull the lever for Republican candidates — the political party that tilted the table in favor of all this debt and are delighted to keep it tilted. They merely vote themselves deeper and deeper into financial decline.
Both major political parties have been played against each other by the growing debt, and thus by those who have made their living predicting the demise of specific national entities, one at a time. The liberals of the Democratic Party blame the conservative slant of the Republican Party and the conservatives of the republican party blame the liberal slant of the democratic party, but the blame game just makes money for people like George Soros.
The conservatives are mainly constitutionalists that wish for the ideals of those who put the beliefs and values of our founders into governing documents to be recognized as tried and true. The liberals wish for everyone to be able to throw off the past as if those who experienced it were not capable of rational thinking. Most conservatives, as I see it, are essentially historical utilitarians with a desire to let the past experiences of others speak into their lives. Many liberals, as I see it are essentially present and future oriented utilitarians or progressives that place little value upon the experiences of others from the past, unless those from the past were themselves progressives.
What in reality is required for a democratic republic to succeed is for neither opposition party to cater financially to the slant of their own party that claims to be the one's that elected them to office.
With the way our nation puts together congressional spending/taxation budgets it takes roughly two years for a gradual financial turn around to begin in America. But this all stems to job creation, not simply more debt expenditures. An economic recovery can take firm hold in the third year of a presidential administration, or there will need to be further changes to the congressional budgets.
When you throw in the international New World Order of bankers/corporations and financial moguls that are exempt from any significant taxation of any sort it is no wonder that America is going under for the second time in four years. Continually increasing of a debt ceiling, means there are ongoing huge budget imbalances and thus the method and means of the freedoms of these international players has to seriously looked at in both historic and progressive means to find the needed solution.
The problem is partly an internal American issue, where we struggle over matters of internal values and beliefs, but the crux of the matter is that international parties actually plan to make money over the destabilization of nations and currencies basically because growing debt means there will be a loss of national sovereignty along with the loss of the values that once formed the nation, as well as the values one may have hoped would exist in the future.
Psychopaths don't know that their lives (and economics) are essentially being directed by outside forces that have every intention of letting those with opposing values blame each other for the debt that others profit from.
Ever increasing debt turns anyone or nation into the pawns of others.
Erich-
Thanks for posting this. I had been considering a similar post for some time, but I abandoned it after thinking deeply about the implications. I agree with most of what you have written here, but what does it mean? I'll tell you: it means there can be no political reform. Our political and economic "leaders" are profoundly sick people, skilled at telling us what we want to hear while doing whatever they care to, including war, torture, profiteering, corruption, all manner of perversions and injustices, crimes against humanity, etc… and they will continue until we stop it. The system itself is set up to, as you note, create "functional psychopaths". It literally does not matter who wins the next election, because you cannot rise to such a level without being utterly corrupted into such a functional psychopath. Psychpaths are literally incapable of feeling empathy, remorse, compassion, or virtually any real, human emotion. And they run our country. <span style="display: block;" id="formatbar_Buttons"><span onmouseover="ButtonHoverOn(this);" onmouseout="ButtonHoverOff(this);" onmouseup="" onmousedown="CheckFormatting(event);FormatbarButton('richeditorframe', this, 8);ButtonMouseDown(this);" class=" down" style="display: block;" id="formatbar_CreateLink" title="Link"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif" alt="Link" class="gl_link" border="0" /></span></span>
NPR's show This American Life had a full hour show on psychopathy recently which covers many of these issues.
Here are some links I collected as part of researching the post I was considering writing:
<span style="font-style: italic;">CNN</span>: Dr. Robert Hare, who wrote the book (literally) on psychopathy: "Psychopaths are social predators and like all predators they are looking for feeding grounds," he said. "Wherever you get power, prestige and money you will find them."
Another article featuring Dr. Hare:
People in power make better liars
<span style="font-style: italic;">Wall Street Journal</span>: Those in power lose empathy– resemble people with damaged brains incapable of empathy
<span style="font-style: italic;">The Telegraph</span> (UK): Bankers caused the credit crisis for kicks, for the pure exhilaration of destruction.
Power promotes hypocrisy
Vanderbilt study finds that psychopaths have a dopamine abnormality that causes a drive for reward at any cost, a trait perhaps shared by Wall Street bankers and politicians?
An interview with a white-collar criminal (former CFO of Crazy Eddie), showing clearly psychopathic tendencies.
Chris Hedges explains how our corporatocracy selects for psychopathic behavior and outlook:
Another article featuring Dr. Hare explaining that corporations are inherently psychopathic bodies:
Jim Kouri, vice president of the National Assn. of Chiefs of Police, warns that politicians share many key traits with psychopaths and serial killers. Traits include "superficial charm, an exaggerated sense of self-worth, glibness, lying, lack of remorse and manipulation of others." Also here:
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George W. Bush under-reported news: Nicholas Kristof reported that Bush enjoyed torturing animals as a child, a common trait of psychopaths.
Jeffrey Epstien, the billionaire pedophile friend of the Duke of York, allegedly kept a journal with details of underage girls that gave "massages" to his powerful friends, alleged to include Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
The last item above sounds crazy. I thought so too. I mean, we're basically talking about forced child prostitution in the first world, by extremely wealthy and powerful individuals. But then, I remembered a story local to my area of Omaha, Nebraska. In the 1980's a credit union collapsed. No big deal, that happened a lot of places in the late 1980's. The head of this credit union was one Lawrence (Larry) King, then an up-an-comer in the Republican Party. In the wake of the collapse, investigators found a number of links to child pornography, prostitution, drugs, kidnapping, and all manor of horrific activities along those lines. The scandal eventually reached <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=da0qAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sWMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6959,4721773&dq=homosexual+prostitution+inquiry&hl=en" rel="nofollow">all to the White House, implicating <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fURPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BAMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7056,6301133&dq=homosexual+prostitution+inquiry&hl=en" rel="nofollow">officials in the Reagan and Bush administrations.
Watch the <a href="http://franklincase.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=182%3Amainstream-news-coverage-of-the-89-washington-dc-call-boy-scandal-involving-paul-bonacci&catid=9&Itemid=16" rel="nofollow">video here for an idea of the scale. The boy featured in the video, Paul Bonacci, was awarded <a href="http://www.franklincase.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=166:king-expands-into-food-service-something-on-every-burner-jan-12-1985-&catid=6:news-articles&Itemid=14" rel="nofollow">a million-dollar court judgment against Larry King.
This is all but forgotten now, except for two amazing and well-documented books: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Cover-Up-Satanism-Murder-Nebraska/dp/0963215809/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1308157392&sr=8-2" rel="nofollow"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Franklin Cover-up</span> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Franklin-Scandal-Story-Powerbrokers-Betrayal/dp/0977795357/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308157392&sr=8-1" rel="nofollow"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Franklin Scandal</span> (read more about <a href="http://www.franklincase.org/" rel="nofollow">the case here). The implications are horrifying, and frankly, ongoing. Perhaps they go a long way to explaining why the <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100903/us_yblog_upshot/pentagon-declined-to-investigate-hundreds-of-purchases-of-child-pornography" rel="nofollow">Pentagon is continuing to cover up recent evidence of child pornographers in its ranks.
Brynn: We have this habit of presenting facts that pull each other down into the dumps, and I think that your comment wins the best of the year. Gad. But I did have it coming, and I would much rather have the truth than be happily ignorant, I think.
The trick is to have the courage and the focus to take your eyes off these freakish tragedies and to focus on changing this system. It's a system that repulses virtually all good-hearted capable people (do YOU know anyone you respect who would like to run for Congress? By the way, here's one of the main parts of your job, if you want to be a member of Congress (reported by Public Citizen News, May/June 2011):
I would suggest that Public Citizen should not divide by total days per year, but by working days. If you assume that there are 250 working days per year, then the average winning Senator must raise $4,666 per working day, and the average winning Representative must raise $2,800 per working day. I would also question whether one could accurately state, under these circumstances, that one could segregate ones money-gathering activity. Rather, it would seem that even the faint smell of money would yank your attention off the rails, regardless of whatever it is that you wear trying to get done. To keep gathering these amounts of money every day, you would need to have your money antenna up every waking moment.
And who would you rather talk to? Consider these two options: "A man named Erich Vieth is on the phone; he would like to talk about net neutrality." Or, "Mr. Steve Bigshot, who gave $20,000 to your campaign last year, is on the phone, and he would like to say hello."
It is my contention that the political process self-filters for people who are willing to live this sort of money-grubbing, power-mongering life, untroubled by being surrounded by groveling subordinates and demanding contributors. If you weren't functionally psychotic before you got to DC, all it would take is a few year for most people to become that way.
For an example of how it would be different if you were immunized from the seduction of big money, consider the impressive story of Joe Biden's replacement, Ted Kauffman. This is the kind of work you can get done when you aren't out there chasing dollars, which happend, in the case of Kauffman, because he was appointed to fill out Joe Biden's term and had no intention of running. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/11/15/920771/-…
One more thing: Research by the Lake Research Partners and the Tarrance Group shows that 69% of Democrats, 64% of Republicans, and 66% of Independents agree that "qualified congressional candidates should receive public financing instead of accepting large private contributions." Yet nothing has been done to make this a reality, and nothing will ever be done about it by the psychopath-dominated majorities that inhabits both houses of Congress.
Moral of the story . . . When you try to legislate a minimal level of morality why should you expect anyone to respect others and have empathy for anything other than their own selfish indulgences?
a.k.a . . . you don't stop a ride down a slide without a great deal of friction. Ouch!
How about a couple quotations to add to your collection, Erich?
"Insanity in individuals is something rare, but in groups, parties, nations and epochs it is the rule." — Nietzche in Beyond Good & Evil
“It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.” –David Brin
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." –Krishnamurti
Brynn: Thank you for the quotes. I thought of that Nietzsche quote the other night. I usually ride a bicycle home from work, but tornadoes were all over and lightning was repeatedly striking the ground less than 1/2 mile from my location. I hailed a cab, throwing my bike in the back. The driver said that almost all individual fares are pleasant people, but it is almost guaranteed that if a jackass ends up in his cab, that person is part of a group of 3 or 4 fares who all hop in together.
Here's another example of psychopathic decision-making, with Marty Ratigan pointing our this serious trend of privatizing America's cities. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dylan-ratigan/ameri…
Karl
Several years ago, I read an article on the Mustang Ranch, which was at the time the best known legal brothel in Nevada. A point made in the article was that the Federal Govt did not legislate or regulate what was considered moral issues, such as gambling and prostitution. Effectively such issues were left to the states, which either outlawed it, ignored it or in rare cases licenced, taxed and regulated it.
Outlawing behavior that is deemed immoral means money must be spent to enforce the laws against it. It also means that unscrupulous people, many of them psychopaths, are drawn into profitting from the illegal activity, as much for the thrill and ego boost they get from being a scofflaw as for the actual profits made.
This is why the war on drugs fails. It is also why the blatent hypocracy of social conservatives, of any party, are always pushing for laws in this nation that they have no intention of abiding by in their own lives. They are all Caligula. They get high on hypocracy.
This is no moral to this story. But I think it was Douglas Adams that noted the kind of person who seeks positions of power is the kind of person who should never, ever be allowed to hold a position of power.
Pyschopaths are drawn to positioins of power and authority, not only in government, but in business, religions, non profits, pretty much any social group or organization held together by trust in the leadership. Pyschopaths are very good at gaining the trust of the people. They are very good at selling great lies.
So what's to be done on an international level to those who fleece others through hedge funds and currency speculation? Should the USA speculate on the downfall of George Soros and then send in "seal team six?"
Maybe any individual/corporation/nation that is allowed to trade in hedge funds or carry on currency speculation should be forced to pay an international short term gain fees on such profits on the order of 80%?
If the international community can not find a way to prevent unscrupulous amoral investors from profiting (beyond the reach of taxation) from the financial demise of others the nations themselves will soon find themselves owing even their natural resources to the like of George Soros and other international bankers that will never let you see their bottom lines.
Karl: You can't resist picking on George Soros, I assume because he has progressive values, but as you know, there are many others of other political stripes who have profited by shrewd investing. Why pick on only one?
Has anyone here done any serious research on the members of Bilderberg?
Brynn:
Here's a quote for you:
"It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes. But the half-wit remains a half-wit, and the emperor remains an emperor."
Neil Gaiman, Sandman
I would say the same of any individual, bank or corporation that had no scruples and feeds off of the direct losses of others. If these international entities that are beyond taxation can not be regulated one way or another there will be a new world order unless nations forgive the debts they have to each other.