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Health & Fitness

Cobb Afflicted With Civic Anorexia

Democratic paralysis has become more than just a metaphor.

There is anorexia and there is civic anorexia.

Wikipedia says that Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by a refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight.

It is often coupled with a distorted self image which may be maintained by various cognitive biases that alter how the affected individual evaluates and thinks about her and his body, food, and eating.

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Persons with anorexia continue to feel hunger, but deny themselves all but very small quantities of food. It is a serious mental illness with the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder.

Civic anorexia is a disorder characterized by a refusal to maintain minimum civic infrastructure (roads, schools, libraries, recreation, fire, and police services) because of an obsessive fear of being in the next primary.

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It is often coupled by a distorted self image which may be maintained by various biased radio and TV inputs that alter how affected individuals evaluate and think about her or his government.

Persons with civic anorexia continue to have the need for public services but deny all but a very small quantity of tax revenue. It is a serious mental illness with the highest mortality rate of any political psychiatric disorder.

For instance, last year there was a state referendum to finance a much needed trauma care unit in south Georgia. Everyone, even Tea Partiers, acknowledged the need of this facility but they could never find an acceptable way to finance it, so it was voted down. This was like a teenage anorexic that hadn’t eaten in days sitting in front of a plate of food and not being able to pick up the fork.

Civic anorexics know how to get elected. They just don't know how to pick up the fork. Education and counseling help in some cases. Without it, there is little hope for democratic government when civic anorexics are in control.

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