When Power Goes to Elected People's Heads, We All Lose

[MineralMan]

I give you Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema as examples. I could name some Republicans, but they're all that way, so, I'll talk about two US Senators who are afflicted with this mental disorder.

Both are oddball Democrats. Both were elected to the Senate in states, West Virginia and Arizona, that don't normally elect Democrats to the US Senate. Both had to appease some powerful sources of campaign funds to win their seats.

Since the Senate is exactly equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, being the only two holdouts in particular instances is a major source of feelings of power. Both Manchin and Sinema are milking that rare power to get every possible drop into their personal power buckets.

Why? So they can continue to hold power. That is the only reason. They like being in positions of power. They crave it. They live for it.

Both are exactly the sort of human beings who should never be elected to public office, it seems to me. Presented with opportunities to use the leverage their outlier status gives them to increase their personal political power, they opt to take advantage of that whenever a major opportunity presents itself.

For me, it goes to prove that a principle I have long held is valid: "Never elect people who openly seek power to any position of power." Find someone else for that position. Find someone who puts honor, principle, and the common good first, instead.

Are Manchin and Sinema Democrats? They certainly claim to be. However, when the opportunity arises to wield political power by opposing bills that are supported by 48 Democrats, they choose the power option, instead of voting for the common good. That proves that political power drives them, not principles.

It's a great pity, and harms everyone in this great nation, even though those two Democrats represent states with small populations, but populations that would also benefit from the bills they both work against.

[BeckyDem]

1. +1.

It is a sad and frustrating time. We would all be celebrating had it gone the way it should.

[MineralMan]

2. Yes. It is very sad.

If I lived in one of those two states, I would be looking to work for different Democrats to run for those seats the next time. I do not live in either of them, though, although I was born in Arizona.

[BeckyDem]

3. I would like to see us work to make sure we do all we can

to outnumber them, and by that, I mean a senate that is flipped to a large blue margin.

Huge Blue Senate, so that people like those two are made irrelevant.

[MineralMan]

4. Yes, indeed. That should be a high-priority for all of us.

[moondust]

5. I believe there's a word for that.

megalomania
n noun obsession with the exercise of power. delusion about one's own power or importance (typically as a symptom of manic or paranoid disorder). (COED)


And this lesson I think I learned in grade school and never forgot it even though it's not an easy guide to follow in a big money system awash with moneygrubbers:

"Never elect people who openly seek power to any position of power."

[MineralMan]

6. Yes. Exactly!

[snowybirdie]

7. Saw it with a friend

He was a defense attorney who's client got the death penalty. The case got a lot of media attention and mics and tv cameras became a big part of his days for a few weeks. I saw his personality change overnight. He became arrogant and so very sure of himself. No longer a pleasant person to be around. Sad.