An open letter to Tammy Bruce
Hi Tammy,
I’m the addiction expert who tried suggesting on Saturday’s show at 5:55pm June 4 that alcoholism might best explain Bill Clinton’s idiotic adolescent-like misbehaviors while in office. You essentially responded, as Larry Elder has before you, that I could call him a sex addict but not an alcoholic. Tammy, you have a wonderful goal: solving mankind’s problems. I love your ideas and greatly appreciate the fact that you are so honest in dealing with the Democrats of today (and, I’m sure, with life in general). However, I’d love to share with you the reason an understanding of alcoholism will help you in achieving your goal.
Briefly (I’ve written four books on the subject, so this is, shall we say, _really_ brief), alcoholism causes distortions of perception and memory, leading to impaired judgments, which manifest in observably destructive behaviors. I did something simple that no one had previously done: I reversed the idea. I asked, if alcoholism causes destructive behaviors, how often will I find alcoholism when such behaviors are found? I experimented. Very long story short: about 80% of the time.
Now, Bill Clinton, as we all know, is sexually compulsive. It turns out, Tammy, that 50% of the sexually compulsive are alcoholics. So, let’s start there. In addition, he is reported to have raped Juanita Broderick, an allegation for which there is plenty of circumstantial evidence. That gives us an 85% probability of alcoholism. He is reported by many to have engaged in possible other criminal activities. 85% of convicts are alcohol or other drug addicts; why would those who _should_ be convicts be any different? Many of his “friends” admit he is a “magnificent” liar. Recovering addicts all tell us they are the world’s greatest liars. He engaged in an extraordinary act of what I call “signs of a sense of invincibility” when he pardoned 150 hardened criminals as his last act as President. All of these misbehaviors, along with many others, are indicative of alcohol or other drug addiction.
This is not to excuse the behaviors. I can _explain_ them, as well as predict that, often, the behaviors will worsen. I’ll give you an example of an area in which my understanding of alcoholism has changed my libertarian perspective on foreign affairs: Iraq and North Korea. Stalin was an alcoholic, Hitler was an amphetamine/barbiturate addict, Arafat was an amphetamine addict, Hugo Chavez is likely an alcoholic/amphetamine addict; the list of tyrants goes on. If I see despotism, I look for alcohol/other drug addiction. Ask a recovering addict what he or she might have been capable of if, while using, s/he’d been in a position of power. The response is often “anything.” That is especially disconcerting when the alcoholic has access to WMD and, most terrifying, nukes. Guess what brain disease Hussein and Kim Jong Il have. (see my www.addictionreport.com and down load the archived issues to see my report on Kim Jong Il) Until we make the world safe for nukes (which means, democratize the world), I have become a rabid interventionist.
There’s so much more. If you’d like, I’ll send you my books. I’d of course be delighted to talk and, better yet, do a _real_ interview. You’ll find all sorts of old topics in my on-line addiction report; these can serve as a guide to the sorts of current events where I am likely to find alcoholism at the root.
Postscript: I never heard from Tammy Bruce. Too bad. She’s a good person.