Democracy is the worst form of
government – except for all the others that have been tried.
(Winston Churchill)
Every four years in this country we
elect a president – sadly, often on the basis of irrelevant
characteristics. Charisma gets votes. So does good hair and the
ability to act like one of the regular folk. A talent for believable
deception can also help. Sometimes people vote for a candidate
because of race or sex, claiming that it time for black or woman
president. Then, once the president takes office, none of those
characteristics does anything to help the economy, stop terrorists,
control crime, or any of the other things we expect from a president.
The same can be said of congressional representatives, governors,
mayors, and other elected officials. Voters should decide on the
basis of real qualification, not superficial things like charisma.
“Timothy Judge
of the University of Florida business
school says that being an extrovert is
correlated with being chosen as a leader, but not with being a good
leader. “We go for these effervescent leaders when what's really
needed is a dull, focused, plodding [type] building effective groups
and organizations.”1
Leadership requires two distinct but unrelated abilities. First and
most important, the leader must make wise decisions. Second, he must
motivate people to act on those decisions. Motivation without wisdom
only leads people to Hell faster. It is the demagogue, the potential
tyrant, who is most likely to motivate without wisdom.
“Charisma attracts votes. It also causes people to act without
thinking. Extroverts are the people likely to win elections, but not
the most likely to make good decisions. The only possible solution is
for voters to pay more attention to substance and less to image.”
(From my book, Freedom or Serfdom? Page
259)
Today, Hillary Clinton and Donald
Trump appear to be by far the leading aspirants for the presidential
nomination of their respective parties. Both reached that position on
the basis of irrelevancies. Hillary gains much support from those who
believe we should have a woman president. Trump is a master of
publicity. In my opinion, neither is qualified to be president. Once
we look beyond the superficial, there is little there. Hillary, asked
about her accomplishments as secretary of state, could not name even
one. Trump, claiming to be a conservative, has proposed increases in
government power by such things as government control of health care.
I've not heard either of them praise limited, constitutional
government.
Another problem with politicians is
that they are usually convincing talkers. Yet when we look at their
actions we often find those actions unrelated to promises.
I urge voters to look at not only
the promises but the record of politicians. Avoid government by the
silver tongue, by promises etc. People can lie with words much more
easily than they can deceive with actions.
No comments:
Post a Comment