Hello Cinnabar,
Excellent information. Would make a pertinent thread all on it's own
.The Republican Party is sociopathic: If you didn't know that already, the health care bill should make it clear
Republicans have long since left normal politics behind and veered into irresponsible, sadistic misbehavior
Conservatives lack empathy for their fellow human beings. The Republican Party's hostility to the poor, the working class, the elderly, immigrants, Muslims, refugees, the homeless, the vulnerable, gays and lesbians, children, people of color -- and yes, the sick -- is not an aberration or deviation from their voters' basic desires. For those not of the right-wing tribe, a decision to strip away health care from millions of people does not make rational political sense. But for those inside the right-wing echo chamber, such a decision speaks to basic psychological and social impulses: It reinforces the demarcations separating "us" and "them," the deserving and the undeserving, the righteous and the sinful.
The Republican Party is sociopathic. As detailed by the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, exhibiting three or more of the following traits is sufficient for the diagnosis of sociopathy:
Callous unconcern for the feelings of others
Gross and persistent attitude of irresponsibility and disregard for social norms and obligations
Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships, though having no difficulty in establishing them
Very low tolerance to frustration, a low threshold for discharge of aggression, including violence
Incapacity to experience guilt or to profit from experience, particularly punishment
Markedly prone to blame others or to offer plausible rationalization for the behavior that has brought the person into conflict with society
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders adds these two qualifiers:
Deception, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure
Impulsiveness or failure to plan ahead
Organizations and communities elevate to positions of power those individuals who best embody their values. So it is no coincidence that the Republican Party's current leader, Donald Trump, exemplifies many of the traits common to sociopaths.
A lack of empathy and an embrace of sociopathy has helped to make the Republican Party in its current form largely exempt from the rules governing "normal politics." The Republican Party now represents a form of right-wing politics that has more in common with extreme religious fundamentalism than it does with post-Enlightenment rationality. In combination with a compliant American news media, gerrymandering, voter suppression, a highly effective propaganda machine, manipulation of the rules governing procedures in the House and the Senate, and a large conservative base that has been conditioned toward compliance, lies and authoritarianism...
https://www.salon.com/2017/05/06/the...make-it-clear/