In the 19th century, doctors explained that slaves ran away from their masters because of “drapetomania,” a completely irrational and uncaused urge to rebel.
In the fifties, one psychiatrist said that any woman who worked outside the home was sexually frustrated and probably a lesbian.
In 2004, several right-wing pundits, including John Podhoretz and Charles Krauthammer, announced that Al Gore was, literally, clinically insane (Krauthammer, who served as a psychiatric resident after graduating medical school, has made this charge about several liberals).
The latest in this line of bilge is Dr. Lyle Rossiter, who has announced in his new book that liberal positions can only be the result of a mental disorder: “A social scientist who understands human nature will not dismiss the vital roles of free choice, voluntary cooperation and moral integrity – as liberals do …A political leader who understands human nature will not ignore individual differences in talent, drive, personal appeal and work ethic, and then try to impose economic and social equality on the population – as liberals do.”
Rossiter goes on to say that part of the liberal agenda “and its associated madness” is “rejecting the sovereignty of the individual, subordinating him to the will of the government” (the latter quote may be the article on Newsmax synopsizing him, rather than a direct quote).
Yes, conservatives are soooo supportive of free choice, aren’t they? They just love it when women choose not to bear children, or to have sex without “consequences.” They support the free choice to read whatever we want, even if it’s x-rated, and to marry people of the same sex, and to worship where we choose and the free choice of women to work outside the home.
And obviously it’s insane for liberals to suggest that society grant everyone equal rights—I mean, come on, what were Martin Luther King and LBJ thinking back in the sixties?
And the right-wing has been sooo supportive of the “sovereignty of the individual,” championing individual Americans against a government that claimed the right to lock anyone up at the president’s discretion and hold them without charges, to use torture and to spy on Americans without warrants.
I’m touched by the doc’s concern for my sanity, but I think he should remove the beam from his own eye first.

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