Continuing with our look at Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), it’s important to note that NPD isn’t an affliction suffered just by candidates but also by political consultants and activists.
Author Jay Richards recently gave a talk on a different subject at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. and used a line that applies nicely to our topic. When addressing what he called the “morally intuitive attraction to socialist solutions,” he explained that “socialism appeals directly to our moral intuitions in way that capitalism does not.” But—and it’s an important but, he went on to say:
—capitalism requires that we understand something about the counter-intuitive nature of the market economy and so it requires a little bit of sustained thinking.
In the past I’ve referred to the need for sustained thinking as getting people to break through the ten second barrier. In my experience, most people in politics tend to think they’ve got things pretty much figured out and don’t spend nearly enough time thinking about exactly what needs to change politically in order for us to get government under control. (Too much time looking in the mirror, perhaps?)
Forgive me, but it’s beyond me how so many conservative-leaning political veterans can assume they’ve got it all figured out when Obama, Reid, Pelosi run Washington, D.C., and Democrats dominate here in the Land of Lincoln.
George W. Bush ran as a conservative, as did Dennis Hastert. While they held the White House and a majority in the U.S. House, however, government got bigger and the problems of the nation got worse.
Hundreds of members of Congress and thousands of their staff up on Capitol Hill during that time also claimed the mantle of conservative. But still, the conservative principles of limited government and traditional values lost ground. How can that be?
The same question can be asked here in Illinois of the many conservative elected officials and activists during the past decade. My answer is that the fundamentals were ignored. Instead of the political arena being about figuring out how to convey the conservative message to the largest number of people in order to create a groundswell of support for reform, politics remained something where pretend organizations were formed, events planned, and titles replaced real grassroots activity.
A case in point is the “Speak Out 2010” event taking place tomorrow. Three days before the pro-partial-birth abortion “Republican” Mark Kirk might win the primary for U.S. Senate, pro-life activists are gathering at a hotel in DuPage County rather than doing everything in their power to alert their friends and neighbors of the horrific candidacy of Kirk.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the Speak Out event is wonderful. I just question its timing. It should’ve been held after the primary so all those committed individuals could be attending to the first order of business on the weekend before primary election day—helping defeat the liberal Mark Kirk through real grassroots political activities: phone banks, door to door, literature drops, etc.
Up next: More on NPD.
