Posted on 02/21/2010 9:25:25 PM PST by blackbart.223
Somthing to think about. Free men don't need leaders. Despots do need followers however. History proves me correct on this. Any comments?
I think he’s series, too...
Free men don’t need leaders, per se, they need representatives. Sheep need leaders. In fact, I cringe every time I see people, even on here, idolizing an individual man or woman as if that person will take us to the promised land. Conservatives should be promoting ideas, and supporting anyone who fights for those ideas, not exalting an individual, because every human is flawed, and eventually will falter in one area or another. Once that happens, we must be willing and resolved to put them aside.
>>Society is full of lone wolf types.<<
Those types are merely exhibiting atypical behavior. “Lone Wolf” types just pretend to not need others. But they usually need to prove their “lone wolf” personalities against society as a sophomoric display of stubborness.
Man is a social animal. Even the decision for antipathy is made in a social milieu.
Show me someone who has completely cut off all contact with all other humans and hasn’t gone nutso.
There is a reason solitary confinement is considered to be harsh punishment.
It is a fact of nature, like breathing, sleeping and eating.
How can one be a part of the group We yet not belong to any herd?
>>Free men dont need leaders, per se, they need representatives<<
No, as pack animals they need leaders. It is a biological fact.
That is the problem. Do you understand what I am trying to say?
**Can you imagine an army without any leaders?**
Being in the National Guard, yes one weekend a month and two weeks during the summer.
“Free men don’t need leaders.”
Wrong.
“Despots do need followers however.”
Wrong.
“History proves me correct on this.”
Wrong again.
Humans do need a leader. Not all humans are born leaders,
I for example follow Jesus. He is my leader and I do need
Him. Not all people are kind or fair. Therefore we have a
government to make laws we follow.
Not all free men are leaders.
Could we have responded to 911 democratically? No. We would have lost the will do to anything long before we came to any kind of consensus on what to do.
So instead we have a republic, and a president, and a Supreme court. And if we take care to elect men of good character to the presidency and legislature, and we take care to enforce the checks and balances that have been set up, we will have good government.
Despots on the otherhand, do not need followers. They need nothing more than the passive consent of the governed. And that can obtain that by cowing the populace in fear. How many followers did Saddam have before he shot his father in the head and assumed power? How many did he have after? He had the third largest army in the world, but most of them were loyal only out of fear, and willingly laid down arms once they were certain that America was coming.
I need a leader!
There are people that live a hermit like existence even though they are surrounded by people every day. They are referred to as anti social by some, others would call them guarded or private.
I have not cut off all contact with people. The fact that we are talking bears this out. And no I am not a nut. Hard core followers are nuts. Jonestown comes to mind.
>>Then I guess we are all in trouble.<<
No, we are just fine. What has been true for tens of thousands of years is to be faced, not dreaded. It gave us George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan.
To participate in society is to become fully human.
Despots create followers with the influence of lead.
As Mao put it...
"Political power grows from the barrel of a gun."
Too bad for the depots that there is an armed citizenry in this country though huh?
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I like your take on this. But despots need followers before they can assume enough power to use fear as a weapon. That is what put Hitler in power. Sucker the populace first then use force.
>>I have not cut off all contact with people. The fact that we are talking bears this out. And no I am not a nut. Hard core followers are nuts<<
Therefore you are a social animal. “Hard Core followers” is just a conceptual construct for people who follow someone you don’t like.
So long as you are human you will be a herd animal. You will choose a leader or be chosen as a leader. Or some combination in the complex hierarchy we inevitably organize ourselves into. It is what we do and who we are.
It just is.
LOL. Been there - done that.
Actually, it wasn't that bad. Had some good vets in my outfit.
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