Solution #1: Sociopath Tests In The Halls of Power

New column by Lee Camp

Column and voice-over by Lee Camp, a human

One small change would completely alter the US government and corporate America and almost everything else.

Somewhere between 1 and 4.5% of the adult population is sociopathic. In today’s society, men are 3 to 5 times more likely to display sociopathy than women. And anyone in a position of power is exactly one billion times more likely to have this personality disorder. (I made up that last number, but I’m pretty sure it’s dead on.)

Psychopathy is essentially a subtype of sociopathic behavior. Psychopaths display more strategic manipulation and zero empathy for others, as opposed to the near-zero empathy exhibited by regular ol’ sociopaths. Sociopathy and psychopathy are both, technically, now called Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) — but I still prefer the medical terms “nut jobs,” “monsters,” or “ripe assholes who don’t give a shit about anyone except themselves.”

Okay, so let’s split the difference between 1 and 4.5% and say 2.75% of people are sociopaths. That means 7.3 million American adults are egocentric, manipulative, lying, unethical, unaccountable dicks (to put it nicely) — and those types of people, with no concern for others, are far more likely to gain positions of power such as CEO, congressperson, police chief, or Grand Poobah of the Loyal Order of the Water Buffaloes. This means it’s highly likely that Congress and the White House and much of the court system and a large percent of the law-enforcement sector is made up almost entirely of sociopaths. And of course President Trump exhibits every last characteristic of a psychopath, as I showed here.

So every time Trump or Musk or Thiel or RFK Jr. or Gavin Newsom or Wolf Blitzer does something that makes you ask, “Don’t they care about ____?!” The answer is no. They’re sociopaths. They’re incapable of caring.

I’m not saying these 7.3 million American sociopaths need to be extinguished or sterilized or even marooned on a desert island. But they should be barred from making decisions that impact millions of people. They should absolutely not be the ones running the show — and yet they are. We all want a sustainable, peaceful, comfortable, secure, non-toxic future. That future remains 100% impossible with ASPDs in control.

So what’s the answer? Well, sociopath tests do exist. We should have them at the door to every institution of power — every government agency, corporate boardroom, mainstream media news director’s office, police department, bank manager’s office, etc. Unfortunately, the most accurate sociopath tests involve extensive in-person assessment by a professional. The shorter versions (available online) rely on the respondent answering honestly, and sociopaths are generally smart enough to avoid answering honestly. (In fact, honesty is as baffling to them as calculus is to a golden retriever… or to me.)

But here’s the good news — A few days with a professional analyst is a small price to pay to vet our entire government and the boardrooms of corporate America, to weed out the psychos and socios, and to save the future of humanity. That’s all it would take to almost completely purge the powerful institutions of unempathetic lunatics.

This solution gets even better when you realize that anyone refusing to support and take such a test is clearly either a sociopath or suspects that they may be one. There’s no reason introducing the test should be any more controversial than a ban on insider trading by members of Congress (something they did, then undid, then tried to do again, but totally don’t wanna do). The test shouldn’t face more resistance than a ban on sexual assaulters and those who support sexual assault. (Sadly, there is no such ban, hence, we have an SA’er as the 47th US president and had one as the 46th president and the 42nd president and god knows how many others.)

Point is, having a mandatory sociopath test at the doors of every institution of power would create revolutionary change. Let me be clear: It would not “solve” capitalism. Market economics would still require infinite growth on a planet with finite resources, which is a guaranteed death spiral. It would still require extraction and devastation aimed at enriching a small number of unhinged maniacs. But, if sociopaths weren’t holding every goddamn lever of power, the evolution beyond capitalism—which is required for our survival—would happen much more quickly and with far less pain in the process.