The Ascendance of Sociopaths in U.S. Governance

Submitted by Doug Casey via InternationalMan.com,

An International Man lives and does business wherever he finds conditions most advantageous, regardless of arbitrary borders. He’s diversified globally, with passports from multiple countries, assets in several jurisdictions, and his residence in yet another. He doesn’t depend absolutely on any country and regards all of them as competitors for his capital and expertise.

Living as an international man has always been an interesting possibility. But few Americans opted for it, since the U.S. used to reward those who settled in and put down roots. In fact, it rewarded them better than any other country in the world, so there was no pressing reason to become an international man.

Things change, however, and being rooted like a plant - at least if you have a choice - is a suboptimal strategy if you wish to not only survive, but prosper. Throughout history, almost every place has at some point become dangerous for those who were stuck there. It may be America’s turn.

For those who can take up the life of an international man, it’s no longer just an interesting lifestyle decision. It has become, at a minimum, an asset saver, and it could be a lifesaver. That said, I understand the hesitation you may feel about taking action; pulling up one’s roots (or at least grafting some of them to a new location) can be almost as traumatic to a man as to a vegetable.

As any intelligent observer surveys the world’s economic and political landscape, he has to be disturbed - even dismayed and a bit frightened - by the gravity and number of problems that mark the horizon. We’re confronted by economic depression, looming financial chaos, serious currency inflation, onerous taxation, crippling regulation, a developing police state, and, worst of all, the prospect of a major war. It seems almost unbelievable that all these things could affect the U.S., which historically has been the land of the free.

How did we get here? An argument can be made that things went bad because of miscalculation, accident, inattention, and the like. Those elements have had a role, but it is minor. Potential catastrophe across the board can’t be the result of happenstance. When things go wrong on a grand scale, it’s not just bad luck or inadvertence. It’s because of serious character flaws in one or many - or even all - of the players.

So is there a root cause of all the problems I’ve cited? If we can find it, it may tell us how we personally can best respond to the problems.

In this article, I’m going to argue that the U.S. government, in particular, has been overrun by the wrong kind of person. It’s a trend that’s been in motion for many years but has now reached a point of no return. In other words, a type of moral rot has become so prevalent that it’s institutional in nature. There is not going to be, therefore, any serious change in the direction in which the U.S. is headed until a genuine crisis topples the existing order. Until then, the trend will accelerate.

The reason is that a certain class of people - sociopaths - are now fully in control of major American institutions. Their beliefs and attitudes are insinuated throughout the economic, political, intellectual, and psychological/spiritual fabric of the U.S.

What does this mean to you, as an individual? It depends on your character. Are you the kind of person who supports “my country, right or wrong,” as did most Germans in the 1930s and 1940s? Or the kind who dodges the duty to be a helpmate to murderers? The type of passenger who goes down with the ship? Or the type who puts on his vest and looks for a lifeboat? The type of individual who supports the merchants who offer the fairest deal? Or the type who is gulled by splashy TV commercials?

What the ascendancy of sociopaths means isn’t an academic question. Throughout history, the question has been a matter of life and death. That’s one reason America grew; every American (or any ex-colonial) has forebears who confronted the issue and decided to uproot themselves to go somewhere with better prospects. The losers were those who delayed thinking about the question until the last minute.

I have often described myself, and those I prefer to associate with, as gamma rats. You may recall the ethologist’s characterization of the social interaction of rats as being between a few alpha rats and many beta rats, the alpha rats being dominant and the beta rats submissive. In addition, a small percentage are gamma rats that stake out prime territory and mates, like the alphas, but are not interested in dominating the betas. The people most inclined to leave for the wide world outside and seek fortune elsewhere are typically gamma personalities.

You may be thinking that what happened in places like Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Mao’s China, Pol Pot’s Cambodia, and scores of other countries in recent history could not, for some reason, happen in the U.S.. Actually, there’s no reason it won’t at this point. All the institutions that made America exceptional - including a belief in capitalism, individualism, self-reliance, and the restraints of the Constitution - are now only historical artifacts.

On the other hand, the distribution of sociopaths is completely uniform across both space and time. Per capita, there were no more evil people in Stalin’s Russia, Hitler’s Germany, Mao’s China, Amin’s Uganda, Ceausescu’s Romania, or Pol Pot’s Cambodia than there are today in the U.S. All you need is favorable conditions for them to bloom, much as mushrooms do after a rainstorm.

Conditions for them in the U.S. are becoming quite favorable. Have you ever wondered where the 50,000 people employed by the TSA to inspect and degrade you came from? Most of them are middle-aged. Did they have jobs before they started doing something that any normal person would consider demeaning? Most did, but they were attracted to - not repelled by - a job where they wear a costume and abuse their fellow citizens all day.

Few of them can imagine that they’re shepherding in a police state as they play their roles in security theater. (A reinforced door on the pilots’ cabin is probably all that’s actually needed, although the most effective solution would be to hold each airline responsible for its own security and for the harm done if it fails to protect passengers and third parties.) But the 50,000 newly employed are exactly the same type of people who joined the Gestapo - eager to help in the project of controlling everyone. Nobody was drafted into the Gestapo.

What’s going on here is an instance of Pareto’s Law. That’s the 80-20 rule that tells us, for example, that 80% of your sales come from 20% of your salesmen or that 20% of the population are responsible for 80% of the crime.

As I see it, 80% of people are basically decent; their basic instincts are to live by the Boy Scout virtues. 20% of people, however, are what you might call potential trouble sources, inclined toward doing the wrong thing when the opportunity presents itself. They might now be shoe clerks, mailmen, or waitresses - they seem perfectly benign in normal times. They play baseball on weekends and pet the family dog. However, given the chance, they will sign up for the Gestapo, the Stasi, the KGB, the TSA, Homeland Security, or whatever. Many seem well intentioned, but are likely to favor force as the solution to any problem.

But it doesn’t end there, because 20% of that 20% are really bad actors. They are drawn to government and other positions where they can work their will on other people and, because they’re enthusiastic about government, they rise to leadership positions. They remake the culture of the organizations they run in their own image. Gradually, non-sociopaths can no longer stand being there. They leave. Soon the whole barrel is full of bad apples. That’s what’s happening today in the U.S.

It’s a pity that Bush, when he was in office, made such a big deal of evil. He discredited the concept. He made Boobus americanus think it only existed in a distant axis, in places like North Korea, Iraq and Iran, which were and still are irrelevant backwaters and arbitrarily chosen enemies. Bush trivialized the concept of evil and made it seem banal because he was such a fool. All the while, real evil, very immediate and powerful, was growing right around him, and he lacked the awareness to see he was fertilizing it by turning the U.S. into a national security state after 9/11.

Now, I believe, it’s out of control. The U.S. is already in a truly major depression and on the edge of financial chaos and a currency meltdown. The sociopaths in government will react by redoubling the pace toward a police state domestically and starting a major war abroad. To me, this is completely predictable. It’s what sociopaths do.

Editor’s Note: A big part of any strategy to reduce your political risk is to place some of your savings outside the immediate reach of the thieving bureaucrats in your home country. Obtaining a foreign bank account is a convenient way to do just that.

That way, your savings cannot be easily confiscated, frozen, or devalued at the drop of a hat or with a couple of taps on the keyboard. In the event capital controls are imposed, a foreign bank account will help ensure that you have access to your money when you need it the most.

In short, your savings in a foreign bank will largely be safe from any madness in your home country.

Despite what you may hear, having a foreign bank account is completely legal and is not about tax evasion or other illegal activities. It’s simply about legally diversifying your political risk by putting your liquid savings in sound, well-capitalized institutions where they’re treated best.

We recently released a comprehensive free guide where we discuss our favorite foreign banks and jurisdictions, including, crucially, those that still accept Americans as clients and allow them to open accounts remotely for small minimums.

New York Times best-selling author Doug Casey and his team describe how you can do it all from home. And there’s still time to get it done without extraordinary cost or effort. Click here to download the PDF now.

Comments

[Dr_Snooz]

So I guess the question this article asks is, do I want to be a vegetable or a rat? What a choice.

The reason our leaders have abandoned morality is because we, as a populace, have abandoned morality. When we recollect our moral consciences, and stop justifying the evil in our own lives, we will see clearly to work on the evil in our leaders.

[PoasterToaster]

Do you really believe it is your fault that evil people seize power and do evil?

[Polymarkos]

I worked TSA in the early days.  A lot of us were there because they were jobs we could get. I didn't like it and left after 2 years; I don't want to violate the US Constitutional rights of others on the flimsiest of excuses. I did wind up in shouting matches with idiot petty tyrants who would show absolutely NO common sense in the application of policy. And was nearly fired twice--once for running the Xray too fast. That tells you what kind of leadership they get...

There's truth in what this article says about the sociopaths running things, how they pile on and then drive out anyone not as power hungry as they.

Best thing to do is shoot the bastards. They won't stop of their own accord, ever. But dead men don't bite, says I.

[conraddobler]

The only redeeming quality of man is it's empathy for others.

Those without that are a gigantic pain in the ass.  They also aren't going to spontaneously grow that ability.

I don't know about killing them all but I do know they should shovel shit for the rest of their natural lives and not be allowed one shred of power over others EVER.

[Jack4952]

Mr. Casey is correct! That is why I left the U.S. forever with ALL of my assets in early 2010.I now have over 50% in gold and silver; the rest in rental houses, land and a farm, which I pay a family a LARGE weekly salary, plus they llive in the house there (which I had renovated) for free. They are now like my second family and our families spend many weekends together.

I was an orthopedic surgeon living in the Boston area. Some colleagues and I also formed our own database programming company, with many major medical centers on the East Coast as clients. (I became a programmer for FUN !!! I still do programming for hospitals and small businesses for FREE. I owe the people of my new home for their generosity and friendliness.)

For me it began in 2006 when I was returning to Boston from a conference in Europe. I will NOT bore you with the details. I have written about it on my LAW blog: http://JohnHenryHill.Wordpress.com

(I also studied the various types of LAW as a hobby for over 30 years - stuff my lawyer had never been taught in law schoolor or even even hearrd about. I beat the U.S. government, but I used the International Commercial Lien Process (CAP). The best authority on the CAP ppcess is Alfred Adask, so I have one of his articles posted on my law blog - with his permission.

It CAN happen to YOU and your family!!! And for me it all started as a JOKE about the Customs and Immigration Service (CIS) while at Passport Control at Boston's Logan Airport. A simple joke about DONUTS!!!

You can read it or not, it's your choice. But NEVER think that YOU and your family will never become government targets!!! I once thought that way, but I learned the hard way! And I was a large donor to state politicians and my Congressman; we knew each other on a first name basis. And he (my Congressman) was on the Board of Directors of our company. So, I had political connections. But they ALL ran for cover when I sought their help. Fortunately, I knew how to beat the the government by using their IGNORANCE of law - using International Commercial Law and the Commercial Lien Process (CAP). 

My advice: Get "out of Dodge City" while you still can!!!

John-Henry Hill, M.D., Ph.D.

[frankly scarlet]

Gee if we could just elect the right type of person then all would be fine.....not!!. The financial matrix and the legal system (commercial-maritime statute as opposed to common law) must work together in order for either to be able to perpetuate the system that is largely hidden from view. The system we have "united commercial code" supercedes  constitutional and common law as adopted by the States during the 50s and 60s. So one contract at a time the old laws are being erased as acts, statutes and institutional regulations/registrations give consent to the new contract law. When you elect a person to government you are electing a corporate board as all governments are now mostly corporations entering into business with other corporations like banks. So go ahead and vote your ass off it will not make one iota of difference as those elected must serve the corporation you chose them to serve.