There is one quote by Douglas Adams that I really like.
The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
I think he captures one of the issues that will be reported in the history books about this and the last couple of centuries. Globally we have moved to representative systems of government from autocratic systems.
I remember when I visited China walking through Tiananmen Square and seeing a poster of Mao. I ended up discussing Cromwell with my hosts and describing how he created a dictatorship to move the country from one that was ruled by a monarch to one that was democratic. To me there are a lot of similarities between what Cromwell did and what is happening in China.
But there is a clear tension between people that want to rule and people that want to serve.
There is the famous quote
that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth
Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg, 1863
As an aside there is a slightly earlier version of this quote that suggests a slightly different interpretation
This Bible is for the Government of the People, by the People, and for the People.
John Wycliffe, 1382
But even the US constitution contains this
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Preamble to the United States Constitution
“We the People”.
I heard a statement recently by a political leader saying it wasn’t the law but it wasn’t an option. That rang alarm bells for me.
I see politicians from all sides of the political spectrum that want to rule, and others that are more inclined to serve. I think one good indicator is the way politicians change where they stand in order to get elected – it is more important that they are elected than they should represent a specific group of people where they live.
In the UK party politics are a problem for me – “vote for what I think”. It puts the emphasis on the political elite rather than the people they are elected to represent.
I think the republican/monarchy argument is also interesting. If you go back to the Douglas Adams quote you might pick up that the current queen is a much closer match to somebody that is fit to rule than most presidents are.
Right now I see a battle between representation of the people and ruling by an elite. I don’t think the outcome is obvious. I don’t think democracy is guaranteed for the future – and I don’t think left, right, up, down, top, bottom, charm or strange (physics joke) political views are exempt from anti-democracy.
But don’t listen to me, listen to a former world chess champion Our generation will either renew democracy — or lose it forever. I don’t think it is by chance that so much of the fake news attacks the idea of democracy.
Perhaps not “The evil eye”, but actually “The evil I”.
And then we come to Christmas. The story of the ultimate ruler – God – being born in a barn, wandering homeless and being executed. And that radical servant message
the last in line put at the head of the line, and the so-called first ending up last
I guess I see autocratic leadership as being in opposition to the Christian message of Christmas, which might be why I feel uncomfortable when I see it. So maybe as we head toward a New Year it is time to renew the effort to challenge leadership that is there for self aggrandisement – no matter what colour of politics they represent.