Are most congresspeople sociopaths?
       |           

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 28, 2024, 05:05:09 AM
News: Election Simulator 2.0 Released. Senate/Gubernatorial maps, proportional electoral votes, and more - Read more

  Talk Elections
  General Politics
  Individual Politics (Moderator: The Dowager Mod)
  Are most congresspeople sociopaths?
« previous next »
Pages: [1]
Author Topic: Are most congresspeople sociopaths?  (Read 328 times)
VBM
VBNMWEB
YaBB God
*****
Posts: 3,709


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« on: July 30, 2021, 01:34:15 AM »

I get the impression that a majority of the people in Congress don’t really have any beliefs and just say whatever they think will get them the most votes because they really only care about their own fame and fortune, and this is especially true amongst the Republicans. Do you think that a majority of people in Congress genuinely believe almost all of what they say, or do most of them almost always choose their words based on what would be most popular with their constituents?
Logged
Alben Barkley
KYWildman
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 19,282
United States


Political Matrix
E: -2.97, S: -5.74

P P
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #1 on: July 30, 2021, 08:33:11 AM »

No.

Even if what you describe is true, that does not make them “sociopaths.” You could argue that as representatives of their constituents, it is both natural and appropriate that they should defer to their opinions over their personal beliefs, even if they are motivated to do so by self-preservation. I’m not saying I necessarily agree with that, by the way. But I do think it is human nature to fight for your self-preservation, and that it is necessary to be effective in politics to sometimes make compromises and pick your battles over just constantly grandstanding for whatever you believe in. That doesn’t mean you don’t believe in anything, let alone that you are a sociopath. It just makes you a pragmatist and realist. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some truly shameless politicians who take hypocrisy and cynicism to another level (ahem, Lindsey Graham). But even still, “sociopath” is a strong word and I hesitate to use it in most cases.
Logged
Roll Roons
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 9,980
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2021, 09:28:49 AM »

Yes.  It takes a certain "type" to be a professional politico.

Don't get me wrong.  I'll bitch-slap a bitch, but working on the Hill sounds horrible. (from what I've heard on the grapevine, Jack Reed is the only coolio dude, regardless of what you think of his actual policies).

Idk, I've done two internships and now I'm a full-time staffer. Maybe it does take a certain kind of person to work here, but I've really enjoyed my experience and most of the members are actually pretty friendly one on one. Even Ted Cruz!

Though I will say I've mercifully never met MTG or Boebert.
Logged
THG
TheTarHeelGent
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 3,192
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2021, 11:57:43 AM »

I have had many friends that are interns.

The House may have a few sociopaths, but I don’t think the Senate is.
Logged
VBM
VBNMWEB
YaBB God
*****
Posts: 3,709


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #4 on: July 30, 2021, 11:59:16 AM »

No.

Even if what you describe is true, that does not make them “sociopaths.” You could argue that as representatives of their constituents, it is both natural and appropriate that they should defer to their opinions over their personal beliefs, even if they are motivated to do so by self-preservation. I’m not saying I necessarily agree with that, by the way. But I do think it is human nature to fight for your self-preservation, and that it is necessary to be effective in politics to sometimes make compromises and pick your battles over just constantly grandstanding for whatever you believe in. That doesn’t mean you don’t believe in anything, let alone that you are a sociopath. It just makes you a pragmatist and realist. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some truly shameless politicians who take hypocrisy and cynicism to another level (ahem, Lindsey Graham). But even still, “sociopath” is a strong word and I hesitate to use it in most cases.
So you don’t think it’s a bit sociopathic to vote for something you know would damage the country just for the sake of having a higher chance of being re-elected? How about the 2/3rds of Republicans in the House who voted against certifying the election, even though they know Biden won fairly, just for the sake of having a less serious primary challenge?
Logged
SWE
SomebodyWhoExists
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 13,233
United States


P P P
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #5 on: July 30, 2021, 01:23:27 PM »

Every elected official started out by wanting to be an elected official which is a major red flag
Logged
OSR stands with Israel
Computer89
Atlas Legend
*****
Posts: 44,348


Political Matrix
E: 3.42, S: 2.61

P P P

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2021, 02:09:54 PM »

I mean the problem with the whole idea that politicians should put principles over career, is that while they should, it doesnt mean they are the only people who do that. Most people, in general, seem to put their careers over their principles so its not a surprise most politicians do the same .


Logged
beaver2.0
YaBB God
*****
Posts: 4,769


Political Matrix
E: -2.45, S: -0.52

P P

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #7 on: July 30, 2021, 02:55:27 PM »

Yes.  It takes a certain "type" to be a professional politico.

Don't get me wrong.  I'll bitch-slap a bitch, but working on the Hill sounds horrible. (from what I've heard on the grapevine, Jack Reed is the only coolio dude, regardless of what you think of his actual policies).

Idk, I've done two internships and now I'm a full-time staffer. Maybe it does take a certain kind of person to work here, but I've really enjoyed my experience and most of the members are actually pretty friendly one on one. Even Ted Cruz!

Yes, I'll second that.  I deal with them every single day and most staffers (at least the lower level ones) are fairly nice and certainly do not come of as badly as some of the stereotypes suggest they are.

I do think the potential for power brings some unsavory characters into this line of work, but they are not the majority
Logged
Associate Justice PiT
PiT (The Physicist)
Atlas Politician
Atlas Superstar
*****
Posts: 31,135
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #8 on: July 30, 2021, 06:08:57 PM »

     I don't know about sociopath, but I would say that most of them have a narcissistic bent. As SWE said, wanting to be an elected official is a major red flag. Something like that already tells you quite a bit about someone's personality.
Logged
Schiff for Senate
CentristRepublican
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 12,132
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2021, 08:59:46 PM »

Radical as it may sound, it's possible the majority of them are there to serve the American people.

Still, I agree some of them are very unprincipled. That includes most of the 147 GOP congressmen who tried overturning the election, as well as just about all of Trump's opponents in the 2016 primaries (Graham went from calling Trump a "race-baiting xenophobe" to becoming a golfing buddy and Senate slave, and Cruz from someone whose wife and father were insulted by Trump and who encouraged Republicans to "Vote their conscience" before becoming one of Trump's slavish allies in the Senate, to name just two examples).

  And shocking and wrong as this may sound, to a lesser degree I consider Arlen Spector (who was very respected across the aisle) to be in a similar category (though a less extreme one). Yes, he was a Republican-turned-Democrat, but that's what makes him slightly untrustworthy, because it seemed toward the end of his tenure that he had absolutely no ideas of his own and just went with what was politically expedient. Wikipedia explains my point perfectly:
Quote
According to the National Journal, Specter voted with Democrats 90% of the time after switching parties, while, as a Republican, he split his votes between both parties. According to FiveThirtyEight, during January–March 2009 Specter voted with the Democrats 58% of the time. Following the support of the stimulus package and the entrance of Pat Toomey in the Republican primary, Specter began to vote 16% with Democrats. When switching to become a Democrat, he voted 69% with his new party initially, until Joe Sestak entered the Democratic primary and Specter started to vote with Democrats 97% of the time.

He came full circle. He went from voting 16% with the Democrats to 90% with Democrats in the span of about twelve months. I'm pretty sure that only a small minority of that was his opinion on issues just suddenly shifting. Even Pat Toomey's campaign noticed and hammered Specter on it.
Logged
DS0816
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 3,106
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #10 on: August 01, 2021, 08:50:47 AM »


If you are going to ask that question, you have to first apply it to those who own the politicians.
Logged
bagelman
Junior Chimp
*****
Posts: 8,602
United States


Political Matrix
E: -4.90, S: -4.17

P P P
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #11 on: August 01, 2021, 03:18:54 PM »

No. There are a higher proportion of psychopaths among Congressmen than among the general populace, but not a majority, and few if any sociopaths who tend to be the more violent and obviously crazy type.
Logged
Pages: [1]  
« previous next »
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

Terms of Service - DMCA Agent and Policy - Privacy Policy and Cookies

Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines

Page created in 0.035 seconds with 12 queries.