Don’t Feed Power Addicts

Right and left. Please, don’t let your good sense get eaten up by power addicts. Their hunger is insatiable and each of us is little more than a snack.

Power addicts are those politicians with a compulsion to manipulate others into voting for what he or she wants, just because. Could be good, could be bad. Doesn’t matter. Controlling you and me is the issue. We are the meal. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Vote them out in November.

In our hearts we know power addicts when we see them. They breathe ambition and can be found in all levels of local and federal governments. The larger the electorate, the greater the concentration of power addicts competing for an office. Power addiction and unbridled political ambition are identical twins. So, let’s vote them out in November.

They have charisma; we like them. But don’t. Addicted politicians are not the same as you or me. For one, they wear patriotism like an ill-fitting tuxedo for the wrong occasion. They are attired in whatever has an effect. Flags are very popular regardless of the season. (It seems to work on some of us.) And they wear masks. We have no idea who is really behind the curtain. Fortunately, we can vote them out in November.

Every rehearsed word and each deliberate action will spontaneously appear, seemingly for the benefit of all. It’s an illusion. Addicts only believe what they’re saying until they trade their minds for something else that gives them more power. They’re chronic liars. They’ll even swear by their lies in the light of contradictory evidence, then double down to try and outlast the truth.

Power addiction is contagious and amoral; whatever works. If we get too close to the disease, we can catch the affliction. Once symptoms appear it may be too late. There is no vaccine. Pretty soon we’re campaigning and defending issues we know are false. We’ve been dogma poisoned.

And power addiction has gravity. The closer to the center the stronger the pull, like Mordor. The greater the concentration in the environment the less likely we will be able to escape the lure of power; the ‘mob effect.’ For some of us, we’re at that point now. We’re caught up in the frenzy. But we can free ourselves by voting them out in November, putting an end to it.

They will promise us whatever it is we want most to hear, but they are loyal to only one person, themselves. If you get taken in by a power addict it can be an embarrassing mistake, but no big deal.

Just tell your friends and family you didn’t know, or you changed your mind. It’s not too late.

Don’t feed power addicts. The damage they do may be irreversible.

Starve them out in November.

Jay Buckner