Bush-lovers don’t have to be psychotic, but it certainly helps. Christopher Lohse, a social work master’s student at Southern Connecticut State University, has proven a direct correlation between mental illness and one’s likelihood to support President Bush. Lohse’s thesis, backed by SCSU Psychology professor Jaak Rakfeldt and statistician Misty Ginacola, draws on a survey of 69 psychiatric outpatients in three Connecticut locations during the 2004 presidential election.

To determine a voter’s level of psychosis, Lohse used Modified General Assessment Functioning, a 100-point scale used to measure the functionality of disabled patients, along with a second scale developed by Rakfeldt. The overall study found a link between the severity of a person’s psychosis and their presidential preference. The more psychotic a person tended to be, the more likely they were to vote for Bush. “Our study shows that psychotic patients prefer an authoritative leader,” Lohse says. “If your world is very mixed up, there’s something very comforting about someone telling you, ‘This is how it’s going to be.’”

Knowledge of issues such as current events, the government, and politics were assessed on a 12-item scale. The study stated that, “Bush supporters had significantly less knowledge about current issues, government and politics than those who supported Kerry.” Similarly, another study has shown that viewers of the left-leaning Daily Show are generally well-educated and more informed on election issues than the average American.

Lohse cites a related study, conducted in 1977 by Frumkin & Ibrahim, which found that psychiatric patients preferred Nixon over McGovern in the 1972 election. Perhaps this is why Republicans have cut funding for social services and education down to nothing over the decades. By increasing homelessness and decreasing social welfare, the Republicans have been able to satisfy the demands of big business while simultaneously increasing their psychotic voter base.

However, we are not the only victims of American politicians. Democracy has not flourished in Iraq because the Republicans never attempted to bring democracy there. Rather, they were given a blank check to remake it in their image. Thanks to the wet dreams of many young neo-con capitalists, we now have an entire country looking towards the authoritarian laws of Islamic fundamentalism for guidance.

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