re: #414 The Ghost of a Flea

Not to be depressing, but are we sure some of these politicians didn’t start as honest folks?

Being elected is a basic transformation of social standing, economic opportunity, self-image: with that opening of options, I don’t wonder if a lot of people waver. I mean, most psychological traits bandied about aren’t nearly as stable and generalized as we’d like to believe, and I’d imagine that the positional change of having all that power would be transformative.

If I could figure out an experimental model, I’d try and get a grant to study this. Unfortunately, the rich and powerful generally don’t fund social science studies that scrutinize them.

(snip)

The counter hypothesis is that it requires both a particular self-image and behavior to successfully run for significant office. Saying it ugly, you have to believe and convince others that you are Hot Stuff, better than all the rest. This behavior pattern is also very successful at getting sex, and the self-image makes it easy to believe this is a right.