nobody who wishes to gain power deserves it

this is why replublican government is a failed system. (not republican in the sense of the republican political party in the united states which claims to be conservative but which is not. rather, the system of electing officials to make decisions for us, rather than a pure democracy where all people have a say in all decisions)

discuss.

 

some people though dont want power...it is thrust upon them...

 

power is to be seized

 

such as...?

and i'm talking about the national or state level political arena.

who has been forced into power? bush? clinton? bush? reagan?

who has been elected to the senate or the house of representatives without wanting to be?

who has governed a state and not actively sought the position?

if such a person exists it would be very interesting and i'd like to know, so please inform me!

 

People who are hungry for power are prime candidates to abuse it... people who are reluctant to gain power are FAR more likely to wield it sparingly and responsibly.

 

pretty much what i think, stinkfoot.

 

There are severe limitations to electoral politics and democracy...that's for sure.


Unfortunately, there isn't anything devoid of limitations.

P.S. Presidents --- nobody puts a gun to their heads for sure, but they are also annointed by money. Others are not.

 

Power is corrupting. You think every piece of shit politician started out as a piece of shit? Doubtful. Sure some of the bigger names probably did...Bush Jr, etc, but the reality of it is it's hard to play by the rules in a corrupt game. And once you become willing to break the rules to get ahead and serve your purpose, it's easy to forget that you started with a purpose outside yourself.

 

no, i dont think that people necessarily start out bad.

but if they are looking for power and find it, bad things usually happen.

a good leader is invisible, and it appears he or she is not leading at all but allowing things to take their natural course....IMO

 

Yep-

It's human nature to want power... as well it is to resent those who hold power- however responsibly they may be using it. Many folks will realize the double-edged sword that holding power will be and become reluctant to have it- not that they are unwilling to be powerful but that they'd rather not deal with its fallout- disingenuous "friends" feeling entitled to a piece of it and expecting favoritism, jealous rivals looking to tear them down in any way they can- the onus of responsibility; knowing that even the most carefully weighed and executed decision will draw criticism and attacks; knowing that with the power will come unwelcome and potentially dangerous visibility. Power can easily become a burden to anyone willing to bother using judgment and wisdom assuming it...

Ultimately, if power doesn't degrade strength of character, it will kill you- either from the overwhelming stresses of holding it or at the hands of those who want it.

 

Here's where it gets interesting. With the mention of rivals, and especially murderous rivals at that, does ones "evil deeds" not gain some clarity in that not all of them were evil? Does self defense never factor in?

Face it, as you said, it's essentially a dog eat dog world, and we never really know the full story on any of it do we? People are killed at the orders of powerful people every day, but do we know why? Do we have enough knowledge to pass the judgement of "evil" or "awful"?

Trades are made for agendas every day. Be it money, policies, votes, whatever, maybe people honestly believe when they voted for the patriot act, or any other ridiculous abomination of our rights, that what they were offered in return would be true and would benefit their constituents more than the abomination would hurt them.

We make a lot of assumptions about ideas and people we don't know, all the while using our imagination to fill in the blanks we don't know and give ourselves the authority to pass judgement.

How, I ask you, can we take the time to pass judgement on people we've never shook hands or spoke with, but never take the time to pass effective judgement of our own character when we DO know all the details?

Mind boggling, really.

 

I can't really pass judgment on anyone because like them, I harbor the cause of the corruption: human nature and greed. We can subvert instinct to a great degree but there's still a territorial aspect to our so-called civilized nature that will put us at odds with people we have no other reason to quarrel with. Necessity forces us to modify behavior and override our base desire to do as we fucking well please... necessity like having to earn money to survive, to not incur unwanted fallout from doing our worst... realizing that giving in to urges will make us targets.

 

that's why jerry would have made a great president but they assassinated him