Politicians as Sociopaths

Mark Morford - Notes & Errata Archive

All politicians are
 madhouse freaks
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Friday, February 19, 2010
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Is that headline overstating things just a little? Do you think I am perhaps engaging in a small amount of hyperbole to draw in your jaded eyeballs and make an otherwise obvious point? You might be right. Then again, perhaps you are not.

Fact is, I think you sort of agree. I think you understand it's not really that far from the absolute truth; all politicians really are freaks, completely and down to the very bone. They are freaks not merely because they must be so in order to be drawn to such a heartless, ruthless, bizarre, meat-sucking, powermad soul-death of a slime-laden profession in the first place, but because -- no, wait, that's about it. That's the reason.


Moderate Democrat Evan Bayh is leaving the Senate. Did you hear? His announcement of not being at all interested in licking Congress' malicious bootheels anymore is now causing quite the uproar, largely because Bayh is youngish and handsome and smart and well-connected; he was one of Obama's top-tier choices for VP, and he seemed ideally groomed for bigger and better things in the political sphere.


Why the hell would he give all that up, the power and prestige, the fame and the acclaim, the hookers and the nubile pages, the Cuban cigars and the kickbacks? Is some sort of scandal looming? Drug addiction, perhaps? Did he have sex with Tiger Woods? I mean, powerful, connected, well-liked guys like that don't just leave. Do they?


His answer is ridiculously simple and, if true, makes all sorts of depressing sense. Bayh says he is not running for re-election because Congress has become far too acidic, poisonous, "brain-dead partisan," ineffectual, useless, mean-spirited and polarized. Nothing gets done. There is no discussion, no more middle ground. There is no working together to solve anything, for anyone, at any time. Same as it ever was? Well, yes. Only now, far more so.

There was a poll, a fairly significant one but also fairly plain, saying things you already suspected but perhaps hoped were getting better, even though you suspect they are not.


Part of what this poll revealed is that a mere eight percent of Americans want the current members of Congress to be re-elected. Which appears to be another way of saying a whopping 92 percent of the country wants Congress gone. All of them, each and every one. Because, as noted, nearly all of them are ruthless schizoid madhouse freaks. And not in the good way.
Is that not startling? Is that not amazing, our near-unanimous abhorrence of our own government, of the people we the people put in power to lead us?


I already know your answer: nope, not surprising at all. You might then rightly ask, are we alone in this? Is there a populace anywhere in the world that deeply loves its elected leaders, one that's proud of and happy with a majority of its officials?


Answer: sort of. Sure, hating politics is damn near universal, and appears to be second only to expecting them to be good and decent and get everything done for us. Then again, the U.S. is down near the bottom insofar as believing our leaders have our best interests at heart at any given moment. First-world power and influence, third-world corruption and mistrust.


Bayh echoed that selfsame poll when he suggested the only way to "fix" Congress might be to vote all the jackals, special interest shills and fringe nutballs out of both parties, and then vote in an entirely new cadre of untainted humans, real reformers, people who know how to work together and make things happen, sans the bickering and acid and hookers and handouts.


You can see the problem right there. Who the hell might that be, exactly? Where do we find people like that? Do they even exist? Have we not already established the fact that American politics, as it is now designed, largely draws freaks and gladhanders, shysters and fools?


One of the ways to make politics appeal to fair-thinking, good-souled, college-educated intellects would be to start with something even mildly radical -- like, say, campaign finance reform, perhaps disallowing vicious corporations to buy and sell a given candidate like a brainless toy. Yes, that might help. Hello, Supreme Court? Here is your giant middle finger. Love, America.


Let me be clear: Well do I know there are a handful of very smart and very well-intentioned politicians -- mostly local, some state -- who get into it for a genuine love of people and community, and because they truly want to make their town, their schools, the world a better place.
Of course, it seems they don't last long. They get sucked into the guts of the machine, and their ideas get filleted, and their families and personal lives are destroyed by a billion slings and arrows from outrageous bloggers and Fox News imbeciles, and in order to survive at any length and be reasonably effective, they and their souls get slowly eaten alive by angry gnats.


Which brings us, naturally, to President Obama, quite possibly the least freakish, slippery, pre-devoured politician to ever grace the Oval Office -- which, in truth, sort of baffled everyone, in the beginning. "What the hell is a smart, attuned, deeply intelligent, meta-calm community organizer dude doing wanting to run the country, in that ocean of snakes?" millions of us who voted for him asked in wondrous, mystical disbelief. "How long can such a person possibly last in that rare, impossible state of utopian goodness before being sucked into the hate-filled congressional vortex?" we added, fearfully.


Answer: not long, apparently. To be sure, Obama went in with a rather astonishing set of credentials as a masterful uniter, a capable compromiser, someone who could find the intelligent middle ground in a hurricane. This, to many of us, was the real change he would bring to Congress -- not wild organic liberalism and peacenik silliness, but more of a simple, calm, effective reversal of the utterly vile, hyper-polarized, we-hate-everything extremism that Bush so disgustingly embodied.

(Oh btw, the Bush family? Total freaks. So cloistered, inbred and twitchy, they were perhaps freaks of the worst kind: freaks of the mundane and the mediocre, the violent and the low. But you already knew that.)

But now it feels that even Obama, quite simply the best president we on the left can possibly hope for in terms of intelligence, subtle thinking, nuanced understanding of the more progressive issues of the day, a man who dazzled the hell out of both parties when he walked in, appears to be stunned by just how deeply he's been dipped in the toxic acid bath that is the United States Congress.

All of which can lead you to an utterly depressing, defeatist view of America, wherein you might say the worst affliction we suffer isn't the horrible economy, job losses, botched health care reform, war, housing collapse or Hannah Montana. Rather, it's a snarling, hydra-headed government led by fundamentalist tea-party fringe nutballs from the right and weak-kneed whiners from the left, full of sound and fury, inspiring absolutely nothing. Or is that overstating things just a little


I don't know about you, but I for one am sick and tried of hearing the same safe pap from the same old crew of local politicians regardless of what southcoast community they represent or from where they come. A tired, lifeless and old collection of politicians who make promises then do the opposite as if no one will remember what was promised or who are clearly so incompetent they cannot get out of their own way from jump street. Local politicians who take for granted the quiet disgust of constituents whose voices they can hardly stand to hear.

I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen, these bed sores as human beings are able to get away with this because YOU do not make them perform at a much higher level. You have to dig and ask questions and become more knowledgable about issues and not just assumme that because you've always voted for this idiot or that crackpot, especially in Fall River, that everything will be O.K., that the sky hasn't fallen down yet but they say it will every year. That only means these leeches have trained you well. YOU THINK YOU ARE WORTHLESS, AND SO YOU MAKE YOURSELVES SO, EASILY MANIPULATED AND ABUSED BY THESE MINOR LEAGUE WARTS ON THE LOG OF LIFE. You should feel ashamed. YOU SHOULD FEEL ASHAMED!

Do something about it! Don't just melt back into your easy chairs or take the dog for a walk for an extra half hour because you just read the latest happy news from the parrots who report for the Herald News. Get online, research things like CSO fees, and FROED's less than stellar performance over time. Heck, how do you think I do this? INVEST YOUR TIME IN THE THINGS THAT WILL MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE IN YOUR LIFE, YOUR WALLET OR POCKETBOOK, AND YOUR COMMUNITY. Don't ever again take for granted anything any politician says. IT"S YOUR MONEY, NOT THEIR'S!!!

I have witnessed this phenomena ever since walking into my first job in governement a few months after getting my MBA. No matter how great a person the candidate starts as, I am convinced that  the pressures of fundraising, kissing bums to get desired Legislature Committee assignments and perks, like prime office space or parking spots, and the need to get your name on legislation, WINNING legislation, starts to erode the dignity of a good man or woman and eventually turns them more and more into a real SOCIOPATH. Doing the people's work gets confused with doing the INSTITUTIONS work, even on a body like the City Council, to the point they themselves can no longer easily tell the difference.

These elected officials begin to believe their own press releases, and the cheering crowds and the recognition of citizens who treat them like stars. It turns their heads, as it would any normal person . And that's when it all starts going to hell, as far as constiuents are concerned. That's when elected officials start to think they are  indispensable , and that's when the "24/7 - 365" campaigning starts. It's when people can serve for 30 years and actually DEMAND, as their devine right, a cushy hack job for the requisite three years of "bump up" salary for retirement purposes. We saw this last year.  WE are living through it once again.

IT"S YOUR MONEY!!!  For a City full of people who continually complain about how broke they are, the citizens of Fall River apparently don't mind being stolen from hand over fist. First by the collection of hack retreads and "good old boys" on the City's various boards who do the bidding of the big developers, in and out of the area, then the banks, and finally a phalanx of thieving attorneys that have run of the streets of Fall River like the filthy cockroaches they have proven themselves to be. Of course , they do their best work away from the prying light, always hidden from public view , plying their ignoble trade in private enclaves and cracks in the basement of their own consciences. That is the collection of anti-citizen players your elected officials have taken to running with these days. And it's getting worse with every election that goes by.

 All you have to do is check on the bank balances of those currently in office and that will tell the tale. ANY candidate with well over $100,000 in their campaign fund right now is, quite frankly, over-doing it a bit. Or, they have been bought  in advance by people who do NOT have your best interest at heart!. That's a definite truth. And I think you know it's true as well.

Do not fall for the same old same old yet again. Every elected official must be approved  each election by an ever questioning, intelligent population demanding the highest possible performance and response from these temporary employees we hire. They don't need a great no show job for three years high pay for serving for 30 years! I can personally guarentee you that in this day and age, in regards to the MA legislature, that only members of the clergy serving as reps and senators haven't made a bundle off the books in terms of magic money from "friends" with "gifts", or using funds meant for campaigns for "transportation"or get togethers "for staff" at very pricey restaurants, and God only knows what else they allow in the laws written by them to limit what THEY can do.(HA!) That doesn't even count the probable kickbacks they get from all those other hacks and family members they have placed on public payrolls in other districts so no one will notice, or so they hope!

End this never ending abuse OF YOUR MONEY!!! Only vote for new candidates in upcoming elections. Educate yourself. Demand excellence, accountability and real transparency. Make them make sure that every penny of your money counts, and is counted. It's time to end this madness. Unfortunately, these bugs aren't like Cicadas, locust-like insects that only pop up every 17 years. No, our current crop of elected officials are like fruit flies, the kind that hitch a ride into your house on your banana stems. They are free riders and useless. Time to swat them all away!