David McElroy

If you dig beneath the surface of most politicians, you’ll find a narcissist. Once you understand who narcissists really are — and what it is they crave — there’s nothing surprising about it. The only surprise is how few people notice it.

For more than 20 years, I’ve worked with dozens of politicians. By dealing with them in very stressful situations — when their careers and egos are on the line — I’ve seen sides of many of them that the public never sees. So I’m willing to say without question that most of them are narcissists. Most of them honestly believe the world revolves around them and their needs.

In casual conversation, we think of narcissists as those who are in love with themselves, but the reality is much different. A narcissist craves attention and love and respect, but he’s secretly empty on the inside. He projects a false self to the world in order to get what’s sometimes called “narcissistic supply.” He’s like an emotional vampire who desperately needs other people’s attention and admiration to survive. (You can read much more than you’ll probably ever want to know about narcissism here.)

So is it any surprise that people who crave attention and admiration from others gravitate to politics? Of course not. To these people, the entire world revolves around them and their desperate needs. They matter. Other people don’t. They can be charming and manipulative when they need to be — when they need to impress you or make you love them, so you’ll give them the attention and love they crave.

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People frequently tell me that they don’t really support either the Republican or Democratic candidate for president, but that they’re choosing the lesser of the two evils. That’s what conservatives tended to say in 2008 when they voted for the contemptible John McCain.

It’s true that Barack Obama hasn’t been great for people who love liberty, but it’s just as true that McCain would have been a disaster. Just look what he’s trying to do right now in the U.S. Senate.

McCain is pushing a bill that would give the president the power to snatch any American of his choosing and send him to a military prison for a military trial — just by claiming he’s a possible terrorist. That means if a president doesn’t like you or me or anyone else, all he has to do is tell the military to collect us and send us to Guantanamo or anywhere else of his choosing. On the floor of the Senate today, McCain is reacting angrily to efforts by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul to delete this insane clause.

This is the sort of thing we would expect in the sort of dictatorships that we’ve traditionally opposed. However you try to dress it up as being about national security, this bill is evil. And McCain is the biggest backer of the bill.

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I’ve been reading your articles in the last two weeks and find myself agreeing with what you say. Have you ever thought about running for office? We need people like you!

Have I thought about it? Yes. Do I have any intention of doing it now? No.

There was a time in the past when I believed it was possible to bring about change through the electoral political system, so I was seriously interested in running for office. Or maybe I was simply still egotistical enough to believe that maybe I could make a difference. Either way, I don’t believe now it’s possible to solve the problems, both because of the size of the problems and because of the nature of the voting public.

Even if I thought it might be possible — in the pragmatic sense — to fix things, I’ve come to the conclusion that the entire system of choosing a person to “run the country” is pretty darned immoral. (I know we have Congress to technically make the laws, but you know what I mean.) I’m happy to have you join us. If you stick around (and maybe poke through older articles), I think my position on this will become more clear. Either way, you flatter me by suggesting the possibility. Thanks.

I am currently a sophomore enrolled at [Big Name] University. I am currently in a Political Science course, in which I have to write a paper explaining the purpose of radical thought in our political tradition. I read a few of your columns on radical ideas and I was curious to see what role you think radical thought plays in U.S politics. Thanks in advance.

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