Power Attracts Pathological Personalities

or, "How they spent their summer vacation, as psychopathic authoritarians"

The current state of the Republican Party of Florida reflects the big changes made last December when several “America-First” Republicans were elected to county RECs. 

Yet, in some of the counties, we still struggle with trust of our Chairs and Boards because special interests have access and control over them—even Board Members who profess to support Trump and be America First. 

We’ve seen ‘conservative’ REC leadership openly attack America First Republicans simply for defending the Republican Party platform and criticizing the Republican Establishment and RINOs within the Party who ignore the party platform. 

We've seen local people... likeable people … people who talk like us … begin - within a matter of months - to dance the political two-step: saying one thing but doing another. Or, even in some instances, saying one thing out of one side of their mouths, followed by the opposite in the very next sentence out of the other side of their mouths.

Why does this happen? 

It might well be, as Frank Herbert says,
“because power attracts pathological personalities”. 

It’s just that simple. Dr. Joseph Sansone describes himself as “a psychotherapist, opposed to psychopathic authoritarianism”, which is a reference to Ron Paul’s diagnosis of Congress. I love that line.

Good men and women rarely want to gain wealth or advance themselves by gaining power over others. A good leader knows that when the team is lifted, they are lifted with them. But, for people with questionable character and low morals, their ego tells them that they are uniquely qualified to balance the back-room deals and payoffs being offered to ensure their political success. They might even say things like “we have to protect the machines… for now. Just until I can get on that committee. Then I can change things once I have a seat at the table”. That ego drives them to believe that it’s worth any cost to get the position of power. It doesn't seem to even occur to them that lying, conniving and deceiving people around them would hurt and destroy relationships, or that they are the ones being played, not the other way around. They think that standing on their team is the only way to get lifted.

This is why some ‘conservative’ Republicans excuse away using unscrupulous and shameless political consultants who lie about their opponents. The very act of signing a contract with a known unprincipled and dishonorable firm is the conservative Republican's first step of deception against their voters. 

Who leads the Republican Party on the county level is of great importance since “local politics is where you have the most impact”..... right? 

Every county needs principled leadership from their Republican Chair and Board or we have no way of impacting our community for good. Without principled leadership, we will be thwarted at every turn, as we try to elect the best Republican to office - and by “best” I mean men and women who believe in and uphold the Republican Party platform. 

Currently, your county REC has the power to kick the proverbial stool out from underneath good men and women who want to join the county Party, run for Chair or Board seats or run for county or state office.

The local Establishment Republicans have done a great job of retaining control of the REC. They look ‘redder’ and talk ‘Trump’, but they want America First Republicans out of the REC, so much so that some counties violate the rules and set up an ‘ad hoc’ committee to meet with party applicants to vet them and make a recommendation to the membership of “yes” or “no”. 

Many REC's are now concerned with stopping resolutions, and have set up ad hoc Resolution Committees. These committees are then used to take good strong resolutions and whip them, heat them, bend them, beat them on the anvil, until there’s little left of the original. The stated purpose is to make the resolution “cleaner”. Cleaner is code for feckless and reckless. The truth is this is a directive from the establishment at the RPOF, who just want county RECs to be good little serfs, and “stay in their lane”. Go out door knocking in Florida’s August heat wave, while the RPOF meets in the AC to pass rules that violate State Statutes.

Other RPOF directives are to slow down swearing in new members, and only hold meetings every other month. This is their response to the growth of the America-First movement in the Republican Party. But, you can't stop this movement, especially with these types of tactics. All the RINOs continue to do is out themselves as fake AF. And, the fakest RINOs are the ones who stand on top of the America-First movement, and pretend to wear it like a pretty purple dress.

Some of the new board members are slightly better than what we replaced, and feel that we should hail them for this. I view them as Nero, fiddling while the republic burns. The old cabals were worse. They danced around the fire like a coven. Slight improvement, but not enough to hang your hat on.

Politics is a DIRTY business. It is truly a magnet to the corruptible. But, occasionally you find people who really do have a pure heart, they just don’t win elections, or get past the party machine “Slimer Climber”, who got there first and sucked the air out of the room. Stop giving these people your air. Listen to their words. Apply discernment.

Please feel free to adapt this to your local REC’s issues, and share , share, share.