As I have detailed in "Leaders and Followers Part 1", there are two types of people on this planet when you really boil it down... Leaders and Followers.
Leaders, though, are not always good. Osama bin Laden is definitely a leader. So was Adolf Hitler. They were able to show the qualities of leadership: determination, persuasion, drive to succeed, tenacity.
Leaders are also not always bad. Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, all were great leaders for similar reasons.
It stands to reason, then, that being a great leader is neither good nor evil.
Followers are, however, always bad. Any time you have a nation full of followers, you get one leader that can totally dominate. The followers roll over and let the few leaders control all aspects of their lives. 1930's Germany. Need I say more? Remember... Adolf Hitler was democratically elected.
That is why I, and the Libertarian Party at large, believe in the value of self government. People have the ability to govern themselves, if they are taught to and choose to. All of us have choice every day. Even if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice. If all people, or a majority, choose to govern their own lives, deal with their own problems, and handle their own consequences good or bad, then the world will be a better place.
That is my ultimate goal... educate the people, tell them that they can govern themselves not only on a small scale but on a large scale as well.
Self Control. A quality of leaders.
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4 comments:
WAIT a SECOND..
you said that there are two kinds of people in this world, followers and leaders, right?
yes, there are good leaders, like you said.. and bad leaders [Hitler of course].. but you said that all followers are bad. I have to disagree. Not all of them are bad.
Hm, lets see. Do you stand up & say the pledge of allegiance every day?? Last time I checked, most people do. SO, if you say the pledge just like everyone else, are you a follower? Or are you simply deciding to govern yourself & choose not to say the pledge??
Maybe you should reevaluate your idea of bad following, or be more specific on what you consider being a mindless-idiot-follower.
Oh and another thing, you can say that Myspace is a place for idiots who are "followers", but AHEM, you have a blog that 928745987235 other people have. I guarantee you people on here are stupid too.
Ah, another detractor hiding behind anonymity.
For your information, I do say the pledge. I say it in spanish, without the words "under god." I do so because I love this nation, that at the very least pays lip service to liberty and justice for all, unlike many other countries.
This blog is unique. I do not consider myself to be a member of blogger.com or blogspot.com; this is a freestanding website as far as I am concerned. I use their templates and servers because I admittedly do not have the requisiste technical expertise to do otherwise.
Myspace, on the other hand, is a site devoted to pointless ruminations devoid of any interesting facets and the reckless divulgence of personal information to potential predators.
Furthermore, you have failed to provide one concrete example of a follower whose following is good. Not one iota of evidence has been shown that sheep behavior is intellectually healthy or morally good.
What say you?
you know, you contradict yourself alot.
Is God a good leader since He has people following Him [somewhat mindlessly also] or what?? Or are people idiots for following Him even though his motives are supposedly good?
or following:
Ghandi
Jesus
Mother Teresa
Moses
Martin Luther King Jr.
Thomas Jefferson
or any good leader in history.. had good people following them. That was the point of their existence.. to do good & to have the people in their paths do good also. && I know for a fact that their behavior WAS intellectually healthy & morally good.
So, you have good leaders & bad leaders. But, you DO have good && bad followers, OF COURSE. you cant have good without the bad.. no matter what.
and OMG.. if you dont think that you arent a part of a blog WEBSITE.. then you are seriously in denial.. just to state the fact that you arent a follower. How sad.
you are a follower. if its standing up & saying the pledge of allegiance [in spanish??] doesnt make you THAT different or THAT freethinking. You say that you love this country.. but all you do is bash on it. If you dont like it, go live in Iraq.
Allow me reiterate a key point.
I like this country... MORE THAN I DO OTHER COUNTRIES. That means that this country is the best. Very similar to winning a race against slow people... just because you are number one doesn't immediately mean that it is anything to be proud of. We are better than the fascists, yes, but we still have a LOT of room for improvement. It is simply because I love this country so much that I care to fix it. If I didn't care, then I would leave it to self destruct. Period.
Furthermore, good leaders are leaders who show (in my subjective opinion) libertarian values, promote freedom, et cetera. Your own interpretation of good or evil is also subjective you YOUR values and morals. Therefore, there are good and there are bad leaders, regardless of (in my estimation) how many people follow them. There are EFFECTIVE leaders - ones who motivate and achieve, and yes, Hitler was one - but EFFECTIVE and GOOD are two different things, one regrettably much more objective than the other.
As for god... if he wants people to blindly have faith in him, and just to follow him without questioning him... then maybe he is an effective, but not good leader.
Ditto with jesus, though he not so much.
And speaking of sad... isn't it a little pathetic that you take shots from anonymity? Just a little bit?
Remember... in the words of George Carlin, "The Status Quo always sucks."
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