A Psychopath is defined as someone who has no conscience and is therefore without moral qualms regarding his behavior. A Sociopath is a person with extreme antisocial attitudes and behaviors aided by a lack of conscience in their choice of words and behaviors. In both cases it is the fundamental lack of empathy and concern for social consequence that defines their behaviors. Both are expressions of anomie manifesting a profound lack of socialization. They represent a subscription to a belief system that excludes the general welfare as consequential.
A psychopath doesn’t have a conscience. When he lies he may pretend to but won’t experience moral qualms. He won’t feel your pain or loss. On the other hand, a sociopath typically may have a vestigial conscience. He may know taking your money is wrong, and he might even feel some vague sense of guilt or remorse, but that doesn’t inhibit his behavior and it will be easily rationalized. In either case both sociopaths and psychopaths exhibit a profound and consequential lack of empathy, an inability to stand in someone else’s shoes, to understand how they feel, and, most importantly. they have no regard for the effects of their actions. People with these personality types see others as objects, as instruments to be used and manipulated for their own benefit. And, yes, someone can be both a psychopath and a sociopath.
Here is a good example of sociopathy and anomie at work at the federal level: After instituting a $1.5 trillion tax cut and signing off on a $675 billion budget for the Department of Defense, Senate Majority Leader McConnell said that the only way to lower the record-high federal deficit would be to cut entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Note that he didn’t list cuts to Congressional health care, retirement, or pay nor higher taxes on wealth. It is interesting to note that McConnell has over the course of his political career managed to build a net worth of $27 million on a salary of $193,000 a year. Perhaps he skipped lunch and took a city bus to work. Perhaps he is ultra parsimonious. Or might it be something else? He did once write a book and he and his wife received a large lovely wedding gift of money from her father, a wealthy Chinese shipping magnate. Whatever his sources may be, Mr. McConnell has socked away a fortune – doing well while doing no “good”.
How did we come to this place where sociopaths and psychopaths are actively working to destroy the American social contract, from health care and social security to voting rights? Look at the late David Koch’s wish list of what parts of the social contract he wanted destroyed and ask yourself why:
Department of Energy
Environmental Protection Agency
Food and Drug Administration
Occupational Health and Safety Administration
Federal Communications Commission
National Labor Relations Board
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Central Intelligence Agency
Federal Reserve
Social Security
Welfare
Public Schools
Taxation
“Make America Great Again!” Great? The dictionary says to be “great” is to be considerably above the norm or average. Just when was America last great? In the era when it created these programs the sociopaths are trying so hard to destroy. Are the sociopaths paving a road for a Fascist “Leader” to take over? This has worked historically and there is no reason to believe it couldn’t happen here. We have already arrived at a place where American people greet the President with Nazi salutes.
Perhaps the United States will always be a social frontier, always unfinished with rough edges. We swing from this extreme to the next. Perhaps human beings are just this way – some get “it” and some don’t. Some people care and some don’t. Must it be this way?
Schools and Society 