© Activist Post/KJN
"You need to indoctrinate empathy out of people to arrive at extreme capitalist positions." - Frans de WaalMy question is prompted by the recent Senate vote (unanimous as far as I can determine) for a $38-billion, ten year military aid package to Israel, the single largest in U.S. history, but it's something I've pondered and written about for decades.
In the Israeli case, the best defense apologists can muster is that our spineless mollusks in Congress would do the right thing but for fear of AIPAC's swift retaliation. While there is an element of truth here it's unfair to our invertebrate friends. It conveniently overlooks the fact that in other situations - absent any AIPAC pressure - Congress assiduously avoids "doing the right thing." Instead, it directly or indirectly funds brutal and barbarous overt and structural violence across the globe, a veritable galaxy of moral blind spots.
Hence my question: Are we, almost across the board, governed by psychopaths? Lest I be misunderstood, I'm not suggesting our rulers lack a conscience or any vestige of empathy. The situation is both more nuanced and more dangerous. We're not talking about primary psychopaths like Jeffrey Daumer and Ted Bundy or fictitious murderers like "Dexter" or Hannibal Lector from Silence of the Lambs. We need to set aside those individuals who are empathy-impaired as a result of damage to the brain's prefrontal cortex and those born with abnormal brain chemistry.
Comment: A good reminder of why there is a vast and disturbing disconnect between government and the people. Those elected to serve the people develop the traits of psychopathy in deed and nature in order to remain in power. Club rules. And Israel owns the club. Connect the dots.