Narcissistic Personality Disorder and the need for political & party reform (Part 1)

Regardless of who the winners are in Tuesday’s primary, one of the ongoing issues conservatives must confront is the problem of NPD. I am not kidding about this. NPD is Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Here are two summaries:

From Google/health:

Narcissistic personality disorder is a condition in which there is an inflated sense of self-importance and an extreme preoccupation with one’s self.

From Wikipedia:

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the diagnostic classification system used in the United States, as “a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy.”

The narcissist is described as being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power, and prestige. Narcissistic personality disorder is closely linked to self-centeredness.

What am I getting at? How often have you heard the candidates for important public office answering this question?:

“How are you going to accomplish your goals and enact reforms once elected?”

While candidates are typically forced to address where they stand on the issues, there are two key missing ingredients in our campaigns today. First—there isn’t any serious talk about fixing the political problems in this country. Not enough Americans receive honest information about the candidates, elected officials, or about public policy options—why a particular course of action is required to fix it.

For example, most every politician claims to be horrified by deficit spending—yet it continues on under both political parties because no one wants to do what is necessary to rally the kind of support to just say no to the taxeaters.

Second—there isn’t any serious talk from Republican candidates about reforming the GOP itself. For too long now the party has resembled a country club or even a hideout for those who prefer not to make an honest living. Republican apparatchiks and politicians mostly espouse the notion of limited government and traditional values. And then they disappear into their committee hearings and party or government offices and they pretend to play the role of powerbroker or legislative engineer.

Unless you’re privileged to catch them giving a vapid-cliché ridden speech at the local Rotary Club, you’re probably going to forget they exist until your mail box and phones are pelted in the weeks before election day.

We hear about grand plans to reform this, fix that, solve the other, blah blah blah, ad nauseam. But there is no word on how any of that will actually be successfully accomplished. This is an era when the public sector unions and numerous other special interest groups drop the hammer on anyone that tries to let hard-working Americans keep more of their own money or get a better value for their tax dollars.

How can it be that most politicians just go on ignoring political and party reform? Because they don’t spend any time thinking about it. They get up in the morning and find that face looking back at them in the mirror so impressive—they assume once their wonderful self arrives on the scene all will improve. Mountains will move, oceans will obey, and everyone will be as impressed with them as they are of themselves.

What causes that kind crazy thinking? Narcissistic Personality Disorder. An inflated sense of self-importance. A pervasive pattern of grandiosity. A need for admiration. And yes, a lack of empathy for those who suffer when these NPD politicians fail to accomplish anything but their election and reelection.

Up next: More on NPD.