serum114

Our Infantile Search for Heroic Leaders
by Johann Hari
Do you find yourself staring at the television and pining for a good leader — a person who will rise and make the world right again? Do you long for a Mandela, a Churchill, a Gandhi? Then grow up. Our political debate — what passes for it — increasingly focuses on a search for an elusive Messianic leader who will show us the way. This is the opposite of rational politics.

This search for leaders is based on a desire to return to childhood — to snuggle into the political cot and close our eyes, knowing daddy is outside watching over us. The highest compliment we pay to a politician is to call him “father of the nation”. I feel this urge too. It is difficult and disturbing to try to figure out what is wrong in the world, and how to put it right. How much more tempting to simply snuffle out somebody who you think is good and decent and kind, elect them, and assume they will sort it all out.

But this discourages us from doing the one thing that might actually solve these problems — figuring out solutions for ourselves then going out and campaigning to make them happen. Every civilising advance in history — from workers’ rights to women’s rights to gay rights — was won because ordinary people banded together and agitated for it. If we had waited for a good leader to hand it down from above, we would still be waiting today.

There is a bigger danger still. It is that, in finding a “good” leader, we then blindly follow them into dark and fetid places. Let’s look first at a leader whose ninetieth birthday we are celebrating this week: Nelson Mandela. Nobody needs to be reminded of his stunning heroism in the fight against apartheid. But because they were so awed by that, most South Africans followed him unquestioningly as he perpetuated economic apartheid - and worsened the most extreme economic inequality on earth.

Apartheid was not just a system of laws; it was an economic system where a tiny white elite owned almost everything. By 1990, the elite realised they could no longer maintain the laws — but they fought desperately to maintain economic control. They demanded that the land and resources they had stolen from poor blacks be recognised in the constitution as theirs, and never redistributed. They demanded that the new democracy pick up all of apartheid’s debts, making spending to lift up the poor majority impossible. They demanded the recognition of “intellectual property rights”, making the distribution of cheap Aids drugs unaffordable. They demanded their apartheid finance minister and head of the Central Bank continue in position. Western governments, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank piled in behind them in support.

Mandela agreed to it all. He discreetly buried the ANC’s Freedom Charter, with its commitments to clean water, free healthcare and land for all. The result is that today whites own 70 per cent of the South African economy, despite being only 10 per cent of the population. Mandela believed this deal was the only way to prevent white flight and increase poverty. But he was wrong. Since the fall of apartheid, average life expectancy has fallen by 13 years. The black unemployment rate has doubled. This isn’t because white ruled ceased; it is because it continues today, with a new black corporate logo.

People who are heroic in one respect can be fools or monsters in another. If we look at two of the most admired leaders of the twentieth century, this becomes even clearer. Mahatma Gandhi’s shimmering qualities don’t need to be rehearsed here — but who now remembers that he killed his wife, and told Europeans to allow the Nazis to conquer our continent?

The British occupiers of India jailed Gandhi and his wife Kasturba in 1942, and she soon developed bronchial pneumonia. Their son Devadas turned to the obvious solution: penicillin. But because of his Hindu fundamentalism, Gandhi believed “Western” medicine — medicine that had been tested in clinical trials to make sure it works — was immoral. He said she should drink muddy water from the “Holy” Ganges instead. Whenever Kasturba flickered into consciousness, he told her she would “bankrupt [his] faith” and hers if she took penicillin. So she died. Six weeks later, Gandhi himself got ill with malaria - and glugged down the “Western” medicine happily. For the rest of his life, he continued to condemn the medicines that had saved his life, and told his followers to eschew them.

Gandhi’s response to Nazism was even worse. He said the peoples of Europe should let Hitler and Mussolini conquer and “allow yourselves, man, woman and child to be slaughtered”. And the Jews? They “should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs … Collective suicide would have been heroism.” It would be “immoral”, he said, to fight back. Again, this was a result of his absurd superstitious beliefs.

What about Gandhi’s nemesis, Winston Churchill? Today we only remember his heroic opposition to Nazism. But while he was against gassing and tyranny in Europe, he was passionately in favour of it for “uncivilised” human beings whose riches he wanted to seize. In the 1920s, Iraqis rose up against British imperial rule, and Churchill as Colonial Secretary thought of a good solution: gas them. He wrote: “I do not understand this squeamishness… I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes.” It would “spread a lively terror”. He was quite clear about why Britain should do this. He explained: “We have engrossed to ourselves an altogether disproportionate share of the wealth and traffic of the world… mainly acquired by violence, largely maintained by force.”

Don’t misunderstand me. There are no perfect leaders, but there are always better and worse ones. I would have backed Gandhi against Churchill, and Churchill against Hitler - while always condemning their flaws.

You can see this principle in the current US election. Barack Obama is considerably better than John McCain — but he too has his dreadful drawbacks we will have to oppose. He has pledged, if he wins, “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided” — a pledge that would make any proper two-state solution impossible. He has defended the right of Colombia’s hard-right government to invade its neighbours. Faced with this, you can’t give up: support the great parts of his programme — like expanding healthcare in the US — and oppose the bad. Be a political adult.

Human beings are invariably flawed. Every person who is capable of moments of greatness is also capable of cruelty or stupidity. The only way to check this is for us to be constantly watching each other — even the best amongst us — and to never be blinded by admirable acts. We will never reach a point where we find the good leader and can sigh, sit back, and relax. If you care about the state of the world, you have to keep watching and pressuring and fighting, forever.

–Johann Hari

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The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Hunter S. Thompson

The_Heretic

This leads me to believe that Johann Jari is either, a right winger looking to trash Obama, a Hilarycrat Dead Ender or simply some pundit who's too lazy to read or listen to Obama describe how his presidency will run.

Obama many times has said that he's not going to be the great leader who does all the heavy lifting, rather- and this important, that we, the voters contribute each according to our abilities. He also says that if the voters feel Obama's wrong on a given issue they should find it their obligation to tell him [an offer I personally took him up on].

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John McCain: "He's in Iraq... with a few centuries to kill."





You won't fight for the Bill of Right? Fine! I won't fight for you in the ballot box!

serum114

I hope you are right.

__________________

The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.
Hunter S. Thompson

The_Heretic

To contrast with Obama's slogan, it's less about hope and more about practical reality. Obama doesn't have the sort of influence over the elites of the party the way Hillary did and McCain now does among his party. Obama wouldn't have gotten even half as far as he did without REAL grassroots effort and the masses carrying him to the nomination as if in a mosh pit.

__________________

John McCain: "He's in Iraq... with a few centuries to kill."





You won't fight for the Bill of Right? Fine! I won't fight for you in the ballot box!

jdanton

So much of what may or may not be achieved depends on the numbers in the senate, and we often forget that.

I believe, perhaps because I need to believe, that Obama will bring competence and transparency to the White House. Rather than surround himself with cronies, he'll surround himself with qualified people.

Obama and the Clintons may be an excellant example of those "strange bedfellows" politics often makes for, but there are a lot of us out hear supporting Obama and doing what we can to help him get elected, who believe Hillary would have been a better choice.

Many of us have put the primary behind us and are now behind Obama, including Hillary.

For the moment, the "Where is Bill?" question helps fill air time and continue some drama.

This country faces a number of major crisis, and no president will be able to do much about any of them if he stands alone. It will take a lot of teamwork and support.

It will, sadly, also take patience on the part of the people who are, collectively, impatient.

It may take most of an entire term to merely lay the groundwork upon which to build toward solving those problems we face.

A good example here is those who want to solve our energy problems say we should drill here. While that may be a viable part of the solution, the oil from any new wells started today won't reach our gas pump for a few years.

Even if, under the new president all the decisions are proper and we start down the road to fixing our nation, will the american public have the patience to see it through.

The expectations of an Obama presidency, to many, are those of a super hero, and they may be disappointed, even if he does an excellent job.

The more realistic among us simply hope that as he makes presidential decisions that MOST of them are good decisions. I, and I suppose many like me, do not expect perfection.

Competent works for me.

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Author: Memoirs of a Sleepless Mind, a book you CAN judge by its cover.

babylonDon

But he has that influence now. Obama inspired the people to create a demand for change in our political dialog. The politics of fear and negativity have dominated the landscape for years now. And that's beginning to change. It's a slow, laborious process, but it's happening. The powers that be, are recognizing (at their own pace) that large sections of the electorate demand more substance.

This is the reason that Hillary was defeated. This is the reason that the GOP is discussing re-formatting their strategies to focus more on positive, regional change. Even if it's insincere, that addresses our real needs in a more substantial way then the repubs have in many years.

We've already won a victory, in that.

Aside from some people who will always seek a hero, and the hyperbole that runs rampant in our culture, I don't think anyone is assigning Obama supernatural abilities. He WAS/IS the agent of the changes, but it's a populace demanding more information, that's bringing about the actual changes.

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"America, the greatest, best country that God has ever given man, on the face of the Earth"- Sean Hannity, professional broadcast journalist.

“To the contrary, has anybody ever referred to torture as punishment? I don’t think so.”-Antonin Scalia

HarperLee

No one has assigned Obama supernatural abilities. That concept was a strawman embraced and employed by most of the Hillary Clinton supporters here -- sweeping accusations that all of us who
supported Obama thought he could do no wrong, which was/is total bullshit. (We all recall that one Hillary supporter compared Obama to Hitler and accused Obama supporters of being no better
than supporters of Adolph Hitler.)

I have posted repeatedly that Obama was not my first, or even second or third, choice among the original Democratic primary candidates. I am proud to support him now, and I pray that he will
pick the best people for his administration. It will take generations to undo the havoc wreaked by the Bush admnistration.

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When an intelligent, truthful man appears, he will be easily identified by the confederacy of dunces arrayed against him. Jonathan Swift

babylonDon

Agreed on all counts!

And the perception of 'obamaniacs' let's them pretend that we all find him infallible, so anything he says or does they find fault with, proves everything we believe wrong

And I don't think for a minute that the 'fear factor' is a thing of the past. Lieberman was just swinging that club, 'We're going to be attacked!'

It will still work on a significant portion of the population. We just can't let them decide things for us anymore.

__________________
"America, the greatest, best country that God has ever given man, on the face of the Earth"- Sean Hannity, professional broadcast journalist.

“To the contrary, has anybody ever referred to torture as punishment? I don’t think so.”-Antonin Scalia

ibex

I agree with the principle of the op ed, that it's always dangerous to turn any leader into a god who shits marble. Obama's skills in oratory, his photogenic appearance and his youth have made him something of a media darling for the moment so it's all too easy for an opponent to use his popularity against him, but he's hardly the first public figure in American history to have this double edged sword of Damocles hanging over his head. It took a whole decade to debunk the mystique surrounding JFK and most conservatives today talk about Reagan as if he were Jesus Christ. Obama gets my vote simply because the Supreme Court is just two justices away from becoming a Fascist rubber stamp for the next GOP administration. If he can deliver on one tenth of his campaign promises I'll be shocked but to be honest, I would have voted for any Democratic candidate against a ghoul like John McCain or any of the other reactionary creeps that the Republicans cared to foist on the electorate.

RK77

We live in a nation where the feeble minded need everything dumbied down for them. Thus the Hero/Evil-doer contrast fits the needs of those people who were neither "left behind" nor "educated".

We have people --- right here on this board --- who glorify lack of knowledge as though being stupid or ill informed goes hand in hand with some sort of folk hero image.

Sure there are people who are undereducated who have never pursued any greater knowledge than they happened to pick up in their school yards or on the streets who excell in a variety of endeavors. Those people are very few and far between! Moreover, for each and everyone of them I have ever encountered---they had the gumption that led them to complete their education on their own.

Now every liquored up/drugged up, drop out in the nation wants to be accredited for accomplishments and accorded the respect earned by those men and women who struggled to overcome the disadvantages they choose for themselves (or were dealt by life). Part of the pipedream promises of these folks INCLUDES over attribution of any number of traits to those who have not in fact, quite made the sacrifices or efforts of those who rightfully stand shoulders above them in their careers.

The saddest part of this is not that we NOW have reached the point of diminishing the achievements and will and efforts and sacrifices of our true heroes---but that we are teaching our children that it should be okay for them to be the least that they can be to get buy and still they can expect the most from life.

It is dishonest. It just doesn't work that way!

McCain's service in the military should be respected --- for what it was! It certainly should not suggust that he has any knowledge or accumen that would make him a competent president.

For him to suggest otherwise is to piss on those who have spent DECADES in service to our military climbing the arduous and slow ladder of promotions in rank. Fighting and serving valiantly in not one---but two or three conflicts!

McCains military resume is scant by comparison to those of many in the Pentagon presently.

I find it despicable that HE HIMSELF is not humble enough to make that clear to this nation each and every time he mentions his service! Unfortunately is seems that McCain thinks his time in service is of more important than that of those who faced the enemy of several wars from the front lines of action, in hand to hand combat, with live rounds all around. Or of those who for 20 or 30 years returned again and again and again to war zones knowing that their knowledge of combat would be the only thing between some of the child/men in service and death!

I have more respect for those whose mission has been to "get their boys out alive" EACH and EVERYDAY --- worrying and training and calculating to enhance their chances --- using as their only superweapons --- experience and know-how! Those men are the angels who place their lives between frightened armed KIDS --- who have been trained to fire a weapon but who no way of knowing all that they will face --- and lifetimes of disability or lifetimes curtailed in the whir of an instance! Many of THOSE men don't have to go their. They have the seniority and more importantly they have no moral obligation to this nation to keep letting the kit and kaboodle (their lives) ride on the next roll of the dice.

But they return! Without the titles of generals or the protections that those titles provide! I for, one thank God for their existence!

THEY are my heroes!

Not the generals and admirals! And certainly not the pretty boys who spend lifetimes pimping their service for personal prestige!

McCain's service, for what it was, was respectable---but for HIM it is not enough that we respect it!

He is NOW insisting that we WORSHIP it! That we REWARD it with the office of the Presidency! I could not be more disgusted!