PROFILING POLITICIANS

POLITICAL MENTAL HEALTH
Johann Wagener 7-26-13

As an old saying goes; The only honest, mentally healthy politician is a dead politician, or something to that effect. Being a politician requires a penchant for being off the charts on psych exams in certain personality traits. First and foremost you must be suffering from "narcissistic personality disorder" followed by a high score on the "sociopath behavior" scale.

How else could you look at someone straight in the eyes and swear that; "I'm not a crook", or "I did not have sex with that woman" to use a few memorable quotes as an example. Most politicians today are bought and paid for with bribes from special interest groups (better known as the 1%) but get away with it because they call it "lobbying." They refer to pandering as servicing their constituents.

Yet, we act surprised when a few get caught misbehaving as if it's unusual or extraordinary behavior? Surprise! That's how sociopaths behave. Nothing new here.

Worse yet; and much more dangerous, is how they (the other smarter politicians) throw a few of their own to the crowd to distract us from what is really going on in the halls of Congress. That's where the really sick one's do their best work while we "ooooh" and "aaaah" about some clown flash his junk on the internet or having a little r&r with a well paid (and consenting) hooker. You got to hand it to these politicians. They are good at what they do. The stupid one's here are us.

It's Not the Sex, It's the Stupidity

Forget the disgusting character of New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner's sexting. Ignore the maddening hypocrisies attending New York City comptroller candidate Eliot Spitzer's "Client 9" moniker. Dismiss the arrogance revealed in San Diego Mayor Bob Filner's alleged sexual harassment.

Clearly, these men seem to have behaved deplorably – possibly even criminally. It's perfectly fine to be angry, repulsed, and even transfixed by these outrageous scandals. Public servants are not supposed to do these types of things.

And while the media are not wrong for focusing on the shock-value side of these elected officials' transgressions, the most relevant question to the public tends not to get answered: are these politicians just too dumb to be good at their jobs?