I have come to believe that political extremists both outside of the United State and within our nation have a disorder that is like traditional disorders we regard as mental illness. The difference is important, of course. One can be sane in everyday dealings, work, family, etc., while being out of control in politics. As insanity in general involves an inability to think rationally, and to respond to stimuli with emotional confusion, political insanity, in my opinion, is also a triumph of emotional turbulence over reasoning.
I will be expanding on this over time. As someone who has studied terrorism and communication, I can say for now that there appears to be a strong set of parallels between internal and external terrorist thinking. They share paranoiac review of outside forces, talk about how others are out to get them, conjure conspiracies of all sorts, and believe that their world will crumble if action, perhaps violent action, is not taken soon.
