Presidents, like the leaders of many nations, don't have unfettered power. But when they are alcoholics, either currently using or sober, the effects are tragic. Likewise, alcoholic doctors, lawyers, electricians, or parents are all dangerous in their own way.
The problem is that, even after they're sober, alcoholics still have the personality and character defects of an alcoholic. Becoming sober is only part of the battle.
Their behavior is self-centered, grandiose, dishonest, short-tempered and belligerent. They frequently lie, even about things which don't matter - and even when telling the truth would be more beneficial. They view the world in a rigid one-dimensional way, where there are no subtleties - everything is black or white, right or wrong. Its difficult to see anything from a perspective other than their own.
The tenure of an alcoholic leader, either sober or using, is usually associated with wars, chaos, financial irresponsibility, and intimidation.
People who "try to control their drinking" are invariably alcoholics, by definition. They only drink on certain days, or only a certain drink, or a only certain number of drinks. Inevitably, they break their own rules and have to develop revised rules, which they break in turn. If they start drinking again after a long period of abstinence, they pick up where they left off and progress further.
efap.torontopolice.on.ca . . . alcoholscreening.org
The leaders of many nations around the world have unfettered power, yet the policies they pursue are not disruptive to the world and self-destructive, as occurs when the leader is an alcoholic or addict.
The policies being pursued by the alcoholic running North Korea are not coherent and do not forward the interests of his nation or himself. He is unlikely to respond to the actions of other nations in a rational way.
Checks and balances help curb the effects of a destructive personality, but they do not eliminate them. One of the most damaging personality traits of alcoholics is that they frequently try to extend and expand their authority through intimidation and manipulation. Laws and other constraints mean little to them unless their behavior is contained by force.
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