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| http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/30/opinion/kayyem-obama-sandy/index.html |
The Santa Cruz Good Times, a weekly newspaper published in my home town, is asking pretty much the same question, post-election: "Do we even need a President?" Click the link to get what the locals think. The consensus seems to be that we need a "leader."
I tend to think that Gandhi was right, and that "when the people lead, the leaders will follow."
It looks to me like even President Obama agrees:
The role of citizens in our democracy does not end with your vote. America's never been about what can be done for us; it's about what can be done by us together, through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of self- government.
No "leader" does that. We do.
There is a difference between a "leader" and a "ruler."
ReplyDeleteLeaders come from anywhere: our families, our communities, our businesses our social groups. Leading takes place from the bottom as well as from the top.
Rulers can only rule from above, backed by a monopoly on violence, organized in a centralized bureaucratic structure.
We don't need rulers.
We are leaders.