Vote sociopath

The fact that a fair number of elected officials turn out to be evil slugs hasn’t gone unnoticed by the masses, but aside from sharing their less palatable character traits with one another, Jim Kouri, a vice-president of the U.S. National Association of Chiefs of Police, has found that American politicians also have much in common with certain other undesirables. While very few politicians can lay claim to a collection of left shoes, thumbs or made-for-TV movies bearing their clever nickname, Kouri notes that there’s not much else separating them from serial killers.

Drawing on research on the nature of murderous psychopaths from the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, Kouri found that key elements of the psychological profiles of ritual violent criminals—superficial charm, glibness, a grandiose sense of self-worth, pathological lying, manipulation—all show rather openly in the political arena too. Kouri writes that politicians “also lack what most consider a ‘shame’ mechanism.”

Kouri believes most politicians will deny the similarities between themselves and career criminals, but he insists the research comprises a valid profile that applies to “officials and lawmakers at all levels of government.”

by SCOTT SAXON