 7 Jan 2006 @ 12:57, by John Oates
I have already posted an article on Leadership, Authority and Government. Now I want to emphasise criticism of the principle of leadership.
NCN Newslog – LEADERS – see www.humantruth.org/authy.htm
When members of a human community set out to build, say, a meeting house, it’s quite likely that one of them who is expert at building will take the lead and the rest will follow. That’s okay, as long as it’s temporary. But when the building is finished it’s also likely that he will stay as leader, because he rather enjoys it, and the rest are likely to go on following him because they’re used to doing what he says and glad to be relieved of responsibility. That’s not okay, because now you have a permanent leader, expected to be expert at everything.
Hitler and Stalin arose in this way, answering the great needs of their downtrodden people. In the same way they became permanent leaders, assuming powers that they then used to drag their people down to disaster.
Some such leaders still exist but democratic leaders are much more benign and accountable, yet even in democratic countries they still assume formidable powers. The US President, supported by the British Prime Minister, initiated the Iraq war against their own moral values and despite strong moral opposition worldwide.
Dominant leaders arise from remarkable circumstances but are not themselves so far out of the ordinary that they should be entrusted with such extraordinary powers. It should not be expected of any single person that he or she succeed in striking a balance between the dominant interests of the competitive instinctive Machine and the true interests of morally aware people.
There are four factors to consider. Firstly, intelligent humanity should not be subject to an inferior Machine or to the leaders and politics it engenders. Secondly, a leader elevated to a position of high authority is cut off from full understanding of ordinary human beings. Thirdly, ordinary human beings are themselves often divided from understanding of their own true interests by having to conform to a false reality, so their votes in a leadership contest do not reflect their real thoughts. Fourthly, there is an overwhelming case for abolishing the long outdated Machine, also the leadership function, and founding our society upon our agreed understanding of moral truth.
[link]
|
|
