We Are Ruled Over By Psychopaths, And It Shows

It's not unusual to see headlines like these:

• "Biden is blasted as 'clueless and out of touch' for claiming Americans 'have the money to spend' when told grocery prices are up 30% in rare sit-down interview"--Daily Mail.
• "Mitt Romney Tells MSNBC There’s ‘No Question’ That ‘The Economy Is Strong’ and ‘Doing Well’"--Mediaite. 

Is it, like the Daily Mail headline suggest, that politicians and leaders are "out of touch," ensconced as they are in the ivory towers and surrounded by fellow elites, with no real contact with normal people? Perhaps it plays a role. But I think we need to consider that it is because many--too many--of our elites are psychopaths. 

    A 2014 paper defines psychopathy as "a neuropsychiatric disorder marked by deficient emotional responses, lack of empathy, and poor behavioral controls, commonly resulting in persistent antisocial deviance and criminal behavior." And it is seems to have a strong genetic factor, meaning that it is inheritable. An article in the Encyclopedia of Mental Health (Second Edition), 2016, states:

Psychopathy describes a set of personality traits and behaviors frequently associated with lack of emotional sensitivity and empathy, impulsiveness, superficial charm and insensitivity to punishing consequences. Psychopathy is observed in about 1% of the population, is much more prevalent in men than women, and affects about 15–25% of the prison population. ...

Another article notes that "Psychopathy involves being fearless, impulsive and rebellious, not troubled by anxiety nor by feelings for others. It also includes being aggressive, ready to assign blame to anyone but oneself, yet also able to manipulate and influence others." A Forbes article discussing psychopathy in the business world describes the psychopathic individual thusly:

Psychopathic behavior is marked by knowing right from wrong, but engaging in immoral and illegal behavior anyway; sabotaging others; pitting people against each other; manipulating of others; displaying “cognitive empathy,” but not true empathy; having a facade of charisma; engaging in criminal activities; and lacking remorse for behavior. This behavior tends to have deep roots and is seen by mental health professionals as difficult to treat. This is due, in part, to the fact that people who have psychopathic behavior, as seen in antisocial personality disorder, have an “ego-syntonic” personality. This means that the psychopath thinks that everyone else has a problem and that he or she is just fine, thank you very much. One of the fundamental tenets of successful treatment is that the person must have some acknowledgment that his behavior is detrimental to himself or others — and you generally don’t see that in psychopaths.

    But while we might associate it with violent criminals, it is actually fairly prevalent among business and organizational leaders. For instance, as noted above, the rate of psychopathy is about 1% among the general population, but 3-4% among business leaders and seeming to go up with their seniority. For instance, the foregoing Wikipedia link relates that "[a] 2011 study of Australian white-collar managers found that 5.76 percent could be classed as psychopathic and another 10.42 percent dysfunctional with psychopathic characteristics." Other studies have found even higher numbers: a 2019 Forbes article states that "[r]oughly 4% to as high as 12% of CEOs exhibit psychopathic traits"; other studies show that the rate may be as high as 21%. But what we should keep in mind is that it is as common in organizational governance as in the prison population.

    And to be clear, when these articles say "CEOs" they are using it as a short-hand for all types of organizational governance: "Of the more than 40 empirical papers on 'corporate psychopaths' published in scientific journals, the vast majority study employees or managers who do not work in corporations, but in non-profit organizations, civil service institutions, or small companies." In other words, psychopaths are drawn to power and control no matter the type of institution, whether government, NGOs, or small and mid-sized business--or large corporations. 

    I would suggest that many of the problems we face as a culture and a country is because we are ruled over by people of which a substantial number are psychopaths. It many not be that they necessarily hate us, but that they lack empathy, lack remorse, and do not believe that the laws and rules apply to them. The responses of Biden and Romney to the current economic situation shows a distinct indifference and lack of empathy. They literally don't care about you or yours.