Karbenated

When we first heard the news that Rockland assemblyman Ryan Karben had resigned we anticipated the worst. Of all the electeds we know Ryan is perhaps the least likely (with one major exception who will remain nameless) to just suddenly resign. No, there had to be be a firing squad poised to execute and, as it turns out, there undoubtedly was.

All of which got us thinking about the late great Harold Lasswell whose book, Psychopathology and Politics, explains the process by which "private emotions are displaced onto public objects." Clearly politics attracts a number of otherwise disfunctional personality types who are attracted to the public adulation.

Still it is quite sad to see a capable and talented young man go down in flames, destroyed by the very demons that probably pushed him into the political arena in the first place. Here's hoping that he can reconstruct his life and get the kind of help that will enable him to sort out his own needs in a more low-key arena.