You cannot have a scam without there being legitimacy. One cannot be deceived unless there is a truth of the matter. — unenlightened
the children of the elite receive excellent educations, as do some others who will fill positions serving the interests of the elite — Bitter Crank
"school" is less important now than it was in the past (this itself is a dated observation) because 24/7 mass media now shapes people into the kinds of consumers that are needed. — Bitter Crank
It needs to be flexible enough to be continuously re-purposed for evermore nefarious ends. — alcontali
No, but they didn't get into power by killing their competitors, like Stalin and Hitler did.Churchill and Roosevelt were formally installed as leaders by way of elections. Does that alone make them leaders? — TheMadFool
One reason is that "leadership" is sort of ineffable. Can you describe for us what traits and features the perfect (or even half-ways tolerable) leader would have? What kind of leader(s) do you want?
I'm not sure to what extent "leaders" are born and to what extent they are made. Then there are their followers. Followers have something to do with the behavior of leaders. So do "stakeholders". Every corporation and rich SOB that makes a big donation to a political campaign has a hook in the elected official. Hitler was financed; he didn't just run things based on his innate charm.
My guess is that certain inborn traits, coupled with playground experiences, life in families, classroom experiences, class-linked experiences, and so on go into making leaders. Then too, different circumstances require different kinds of leaders. A country thrust into a war (like, by being invaded) needs one type of leader; a country suffering from severe economic depression needs another kind of leader, perhaps.
I wish we knew how to get the kinds of leader we need. — Bitter Crank
No, but they didn't get into power by killing their competitors, like Stalin and Hitler did.
That truly is a big issue. A big dividing issue.
People who don't have a problem to kill their own peers to gain power are problematic people, especially in a World where democracies, republics and nations having constitutions are the norm. You see, once a leader does that the whole social interaction changes. They cannot stop looking over their shoulders. They cannot close that Pandora's box once they have opened it.
Anyway, democracy is a simply a simple safety valve which usually works. That's all there really is to it: a safety valve. — ssu
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