Leadership in Crisis-Part 1

My thoughts on the current state of Western "democratic" leadership

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

I feel the same way about Donald Trump’s inauguration as I would if Kamala Harris had been sworn in on Monday as the 47th President of the United States: SICK TO MY STOMACH! But what nauseates me more than four more years of another morally challenged administration is the alarming state of political leadership everywhere you look. If Diogenes were to go around today, shining his candle in the faces of political leaders, he would find, once again, not one honest person among them. Nor would he, I’m afraid, illuminate a wise, kind, courageous, sane, righteous or just man or woman.

You’d have to be willfully blind not to see how disconnected our world leaders are from their populations; how detached they are from reality as if they’re sequestered on a mountain top and breathing rarified air; how they cling to power as if they are entitled to divine rule; how they run governments like criminal enterprises or religious cults; how they violate the democratic principles and laws that they swore to uphold when they took office.

Just look at what’s happened in recent elections, as Eve Ottenberg pointed out in The West’s Romance with Elections is Dead: The Rules-Based Order Kill It:

Election results offensive to the European Union were annulled in Romania; an attempted coup occurred in Georgia over elections that didn’t go the way the west wanted; the French government, widely hated, teetered over the abyss as president Emmanuel Macron tried to ignore the last election; on December 16, Washington’s pet German government fell; lots of funny-business happened in the Moldovan referendum and election, amid widespread disenfranchisement of Moldovan voters living in Russia; elections were long ago cancelled in dictatorial Ukraine; and South Korea hosted an attempted coup. In short, western democracies’ storied enchantment with elections is over.

Add to that the recent collapse of the Conservative-led Austrian government due to the three coalition parties’ refusal to work with the leader of the Freedom Party that won the national election in September. Also, after Justin Trudeau resigned as leader of the Liberal Party following turmoil within the cabinet, Canada is facing an election predicted to see the Conservatives led by Pierre Poilievre who promises, Trump-like, to take back our country and end “a dark chapter in our history”. (No idea what book he’s been reading!)

When we see where our world leaders are “leading” us—into war after war with the ominous threat of nuclear Armageddon on top of environmental degradation, economic disparity, social breakdown, draconian censorship, one crisis after the other, and each worse than the last—we don’t have a leadership problem. We have a leadership crisis!

The System

Most people will blame rotten leaders on a rigged, corrupt political system. Regardless of the system’s multiple faults, it is still people who run the system, namely individual men and women who are or aren’t corruptible, be it by nature or opportunity. And it is primarily ambitious, ego-driven, self-serving, self-aggrandizing, psychologically defective, intellectually compromised, and morally vacuous people who are drawn to positions of power. After all, what happy, well-balanced person would want the hassles of public life? Like managers, our current leaders love the power, prestige and perks that come with their positions, but are loathe to accept the responsibilities.

What we have in the West is what John Ralston Saul refers to as a plebiscite system of government, in which “the citizen is left to vote once in a general election—for or against—then to sit back for four or five years, leaving those in power with a generalized mandate to do what they want.” Plebiscite democracies give rise to celebrity leaders “who affect the characteristics of celebrities. If they can’t make themselves appear heroic, they can rely on the mechanisms of plebiscite government and ... on the cheap exploitation of populism and nationalism.”

Of course, there are those individuals who go into politics with good intentions to serve the public and/or further a noble cause. But even if they do get elected on the basis of their ideas rather than the multi-millions they’ve raised in campaign funds, they come under immense pressure soon enough, if not from lobbyists and special interests, then from the party. No one in politics has ever been able to achieve anything, let alone survive on their principles, and no one comes out smelling like the rose they were when they went in.

The whole system desperately needs to be overhauled, if not dismantled rotten piece by rotten piece and built anew from the ground up. A good start would be to pass legislation to do away with private and corporate campaign financing, to restrict or ban lobbying altogether, and to set up mechanisms to enforce anti-corruption laws. But this would require either current leaders to bite the hand that feeds them, or new untainted leaders to come in and houseclean. And what are the chances?

Our beleaguered democracies would be more democratic if they were based on a collaborative rather than an adversarial system. One can argue that proportional representation is too complicated, it takes too long for governments to form coalitions and to make decisions, and they can fall apart before the end of the government’s mandate, throwing the country into another election. However, 93 countries use one of four types of proportional representation, and to my knowledge none of them has yet descended into anarchy and chaos. In a more collaborative system, we would need leaders, of course, who are mature enough to put their egos, personal agendas and resentments aside and work with others for the common good. Once again, what are the chances?

Society

In addition to a rotten system, we can blame society and society’s values for bad leadership. Though every leader in the democratic West preaches life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, there’s precious little evidence in the practise. Somewhere along the road, western societies seem to have lost their reverence for a Higher Power—call it God, Mother Nature, Providence, any number of names—and replaced it with the Individual. It used to be that human beings needed other human beings to get them through hard times. And when community fell short, people could always rely on their particular deity to come to their rescue if not in this life, then in the next. Technology and affluence, however, have empowered people to the extent that God has become redundant. After all, what do you need God for when you have the newest iPhone, social media, and six or seven credit cards?

My guess would be that the “Me” society took over in the late 60s/early 70s. Centred initially on self-knowledge, spiritual enlightenment and personal fulfillment, this “Me” society soon devolved with the rise in general affluence into a “Me First” society that entitles individuals to get their hands on as much of the pie as they can grab. Take a look at our role models: Rich, glittery celebrities and billionaires. What we worship: Money, money, and more money. What we want: A bigger house, a more luxurious car, the most fashionable clothes and the most expensive jewellery, the most up-to-date electronic devices—more bigger, better, fancier, flashier stuff. Our idea of heaven: Becoming rich, famous and free.

We can see this radical shift from a traditional family/community-centred society to an New Age individual/Me-centred society in the kind of television series that achieve mass popularity. In the 70s/80s people used to watch The Waltons, a heart-warming series that ran for 9 seasons about a large, poor nuclear family in rural West Virginia who overcame the hardships of the Great Depression by pulling together and sticking together. Now, on Succession, people watch a rich, morally-challenged family fight for control over an international media conglomeration, stab each other in the back and tell each other to fuck off or shut the fuck up. This stark contrast in values, or the lack thereof, couldn’t be more telling of where society’s heading!

Just like the system, society is made up of people. So, is it any wonder that our leaders reflect the same values as the rest of society? Is it any wonder that in a “Me First, Fuck You” society, leaders pass laws for others below them to obey while feeling free to act as if the law does not apply to themselves? Is it any wonder that although leaders speak grandly of democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law, they are driven more by money and power than morality? Is it any wonder that leaders abuse their office to pursue their own self-interests and avail themselves of whatever means further those self-interests? Should we not, when we look at our leaders, see our own reflections?

We can cry, moan, complain and blame our woes on our leaders. But should not We the People take personal responsibility for the kind of leaders we have? Because where else do our leaders come from if not from both their fervent and their acquiescent followers as well as from those who hate them and do nothing but bitch and complain?

Read the complete essay here: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

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