"Since many people strive for positions of power as compensations for needy egos, it is hardly surprising that the corridors of power are filled with people for who the compassionate responses will be short-circuited as a matter of course." ~ Karl Marlantes, author of What It Is Like To Go To War © 2011
I was trying to figure out an explanation for why the current bevy of Republican presidential candidates are so universally opposed to government spending on social programs designed to ameliorate hunger, homelessness, unemployment and the lack of access to medical care among tens of millions of poor American citizens. To me, their attitudes border on callous indifference to those who are suffering in this nation, but then I came across Karl Marlantes' above-referenced quote regarding widespread indifference in leadership to the plight of those who innocently suffer in war, and I recognized that the same can be said when it comes to the plight of the poor in general.
In American politics, compassion is not regarded as a virtue; instead, it is viewed as a character flaw. That explains a lot!
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