This is the 21st Century addition to the original eight beatitudes of Jesus Christ found in Matthew’s Gospel recounting the Sermon on the Mount. This new phrase probably turns Christianity and many other religions on their heads, but it may best describe humanity in its current worldview.

One view of human history is a continuous war between those who have some sense of ethics and morality, and those individuals who simply have none. Across nations today, those who have no consciences believe in nothing beyond their own selfish, greedy, and narcissistic self-interests. They are the ones who succeed in amassing great wealth and power because they use the rest of humanity as their disposable serfs.

The world’s sociopaths come from all religious, ethnic, racial, and national backgrounds. However, they have transcended their limiting and historical backgrounds. What sets them apart from many people is their high intelligence, a ruthless ability to use others for their own purposes, and a talent to fake sincerity and friendship. Sociopaths are often great leaders and control freaks. Most people are easily duped by these unconscionable charlatans of the highest magnitude. While sociopaths may only constitute at most 5% of the total population, they have perfected the art of wholly manipulating the other 95% of us.

Sociopaths operate under the general assumption that there is nothing transcendent or eternal after this life on earth, and that winning by amassing as much power and wealth during their lifetimes is the only purpose to human existence. If they believe in a god beyond money, that god is also the supreme sociopath who will reward them in the afterlife commensurate with their achievements on earth. Overall, they long abandoned, or never made any connection between what they wanted to do or actually did, and any system of human ethics or religious morality. Sociopaths simply have no consciences and thus are free to do as they please. Other human beings are viewed as simple disposable commodities in their unquenchable thirst for money and power.

Sociopaths take many different paths in life to reach their goals. They enter business, politics, religion and some licensed professions. They are found far less frequently in the arts, the sciences, academia and social work because these fields have very few means of amassing great wealth and power. They prefer jobs wherein the controlling rules are few or open to wide interpretation.

Fortunately for the U.S., we have never elected a sociopath as President, but that public office has a limited ability to dictate national policy or amass great wealth. We have never elected a Nazi, socialist, communist or a completely immoral character as President either, despite numerous comments from extreme partisans. Some dumber occupants of the Oval Office have been frequently manipulated by outside sociopaths.

The dumber and lazier sociopaths pursue illegal activities and crimes. They get caught whereas they really don’t have to in today’s world. Today, Wall Street and the modern financial-casino industry provide a much safer and legal means of pursuing high crimes. They simultaneously permit the amassing of great wealth and power without the fear of ever seeing the inside of a courtroom or prison, or of ever accomplishing anything for the best interests of humanity. Many sociopaths even lavishly give to many charities in overt attempts to further enrich their power and reputations among fellow sociopaths and to mollify the rest of society into thinking they even care about us.

Many foolish people, who are not sociopaths, actually admire and look up to them. We enable and empower them because too many of us are convinced that their way is the best use of human talents. We have completely bought into the false notion that money is the measure of all things. Many of our most intelligent and talented professionals who work as lawyers and accountants essentially help society’s most dangerous sociopaths. This is justified as merely taking care of their best and wealthiest clients who pay for their pro bono and charitable work elsewhere. They have sadly sold their souls and have wasted their talents to the detriment of humanity.

Others among us are quick to forgive them in the moronic belief sociopaths will actually reform themselves and find consciences, neither of which is remotely possible. Sociopaths take full advantage of the stupidity, gullibility, and misplaced kindness of others. Sociopaths befriend others just long enough to use and abuse them for their own selfish purposes.

It would be nice if there were a simple genetic test for sociopaths. Since there is no cure for their condition (a person cannot grow a conscience if it is not part of or nurtured during the first few years of life) we would need to eliminate them early before they could harm the rest of us. Unfortunately, they are so good at blending in during their formative years, and most only show their true natures after they complete school. Some sociopaths manipulate fellow students during the formative years, but we often ignore or forgive such behavior as a signs of aggressive self-centeredness natural in our youth and because they can cloak their warped natures in feigned niceness and sincerity.

Sociopaths come into their own when they start moving up in business corporations and other large human organizations (including religious and non-profit groups) that continually reward their “kill-or-be-killed” utterly corrupt natures. After that point, sociopaths soon leave the rest of us fools who have consciences, morals and ethics, far behind. Since their focus is so completely on themselves, they do not waste time or energy on helping others as many of us mere mortals tend to do.

What is all the more insidious, sociopaths convince others they are their friends, mentors, and supporters all the while plotting to throw the rest of us out the 40th floor when the need so arrives. It is very entertaining to see how sociopaths deal with their own kind within organizations. There is a tacit truce between sociopaths who readily recognize each other until circumstances require all-out-war. Amazingly enough, even after an all-out-war, the sociopaths survive (possibly in new organizations) but many of the other mortals in the organization are killed off – literally or figuratively.

All of history’s greatest atrocities, crimes, and various economic, political and environmental disasters, can be traced directly to the actions of sociopaths being unleashed by society to do as they will. We have learned thatWall Street is full of them and they have found timid, ignorant, fearful and arrogant enablers who are elected public officials serving in Washington DC who respond solely to gifts of money and other special privileges. Sociopaths are also found among our elected officials but they are not the most successful because they must still beg for money from the sociopaths at the top of our national and global food chains.

We even have one political party (The Republican) that now exists solely to protect and enrich sociopaths and our corrupt oligarchy. Decades ago it abandoned its moral compass in favor of only seeking power and control, using any moral issues merely as means to manipulate some voters. The party’s very policies are an anathema towards any sense of morality, ethics or the common good. Republicans have no interest in serving 95% of the general public when their very existence is financially supported by the 5% of the nation’s sociopaths.

It is now very sad that the nation’s other political party (the Democrats) has also seen a distinct minority being bought up over the past 2 decades and now completely under the control of outside sociopaths, effectively our oligarchy. Any good ideas from the right, left and center with respect to sound government, the long-term interests of the nation, and helping the American people are simply disregarded in favor of what is best for our nation’s sociopaths and oligarchs. Our free-enterprise system has degenerated in a corrupt, crony capitalism that only benefits sociopaths.

So what can be done to eradicate this deadly human disease exemplified by the existence of sociopaths? Modern medicine doesn’t waste time and energy talking to or reasoning with malignant tumors in the hope they will cure themselves and not continue to destroy the rest of the body. Instead these cancerous growths are aggressively eradicated by lethal doses of radiation, chemotherapy and chemicals. 21st Century humanity may soon have to make a similar decision with respect to its deadly cancer of sociopaths.

Submitted 10/3/10 by Marc Pascal ranting happily from Phoenix, AZ.