I usually don't write about politics or religion (occasionally) and don't feel I'm smart enough or informed enough usually to endorse any candidates for publicly elected office, but there is a Presidential election coming up in a few weeks (an election that's garnered FAR too much coverage this year, IMO, not unlike previous years) so I thought I'd give my thoughts.
I've always thought the best kind of government is a benign dictator, one guy whose sole interest is for the good of the people. Too many cooks in the kitchen (oligarchy) makes it too indecisive, and history has been full of enough greedy power-hungry dictators to show that it doesn't work. The 21st century has seen a trend towards democratic countries, though, with elected officials, and it's the best system we have now realistically, but I think what some people miss is that it has some flaws. A democracy was built with the premise that a dictator was too powerful, that people beings inherently cannot be independent from pursuing power and that they will always be corrupt, thus a democracy took the power away from just one person and gave it to all the people. A democracy fails, though, if the people are stupid and make the wrong choice!
The problem with a benign dictator is, of course, no one is benign for ever, and that dictator is inherently human, giving rise to human flaws like greed, jealously, all kinds of emotions that in some way or another will distract from his or her's ability to act completely selflessly for the people. That and some evil person will come along and betray the benign dictator if the benign dictator doesn't show that he's strong, and to do that the benign dictator must be ruthless, thus no longer becoming a benign dictator. A vicious circle indeed, this power thing.
President Barack Obama was not a perfect president, heck just look at the mess Obamacare is in, but one thing stuck out to me: He mentioned that he didn't really NEED to be President, that if he was perfect intent with being a professor, a state politician, or local organizer, something productive to society, but that he just thought he'd do a good job as President. That's different from many of the political figures that have come to power over the course of history: people who wanted power, or came to power without thinking they'd do a good job (princes who were bequeathed the thrown), etc., etc.. In America the people have to elect you based on whether you would do a good job (although that criteria seems to be lost in recent elections against who is a bigger celebrity or Internet presence), but we don't often hear whether a Presidential candidate actually thinks they would do a good job in the Presidency. The problem with Donald Trump, other than the many things that have been highlighted this presidential campaign, is that he might not think he'd a good job, yet want that position for himself to satisfy his own ego, his pride. It's well publicized that he has put many people out of business, once was ridiculed by other billionaires, and his buildings and golf courses (there's a huge Trump building by where I work in Chicago!) that reflect his need to feed his ego. I feel it too; many human beings feel it: the need to show power, to be better than other people. It's very apparent that Donald Trump suffers from this complex, if it's not apparent from his comments about superiority in being able to inappropriately touch women, to the statements of "only he can fix the country's problems." In wanting to become President so much, he's overlooked whether he himself thinks he'd be a good President (obviously on the outside he'd say he would), but if he was a smart person (I do think he is, especially in business) he'd consider that his campaign feeds off of oppression, anger, and distrust and not of people actually thinking he'd do a good job, and realize he is just not what the world needs, what history needs, what mankind needs. He wouldn't be the benign dictator, he'd be the guy rising to power based on greed and human emotions, and that's not good for the fate of the U.S.A., and the world.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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