Psychopathic Invasion of Political Leadership

In George Monbiot's post on outer turmoil he lists and analyzes the biggest problem of our age: the corruption of leadership.

"A few years ago, the psychologist Michelle Roya Rad listed the characteristics of good leadership. Among them were fairness and objectivity, a desire to serve society rather than yourself, a lack of interest in fame and attention, and resistance to the temptation to hide the truth or make impossible promises."

The Journal of Public Management & Social Policy list the characteristics of leaders with psychopathic, narcissistic or Machiavellian personalities which is something I have observed even in non-profit societies and has deeply disturbed me. Manipulation and a talent for deceit without remorse which has turned the world from one where we struggle for social fairness to one that reveals a complete contempt for life.

We must be vigilant to the ways that politics (with the support and help from media) misrepresents trends in human values. The display of hate towards women in Congress in the US during a Trump rally is a captured moment "showing support" for his racist ideas.

If we are willing to believe that this president has majority support in the US he can keep behaving like a pop star instead of the leader he is supposed to be, while the masses accept the degradation of the nation, under the pretence that this is what greatness means.

People who support movements of hate either want power at the cost of social justice and freedom for their community kin, or they don't know what they want and are happy to follow whatever trends are presented to them. People who believe that celebrity is leadership and those who rise to the top must be worthy of the adulation promoted by their publicity teams are dangerously naive.

It's past time for us to evolve beyond the circus trickery of politics and understand that the easy way out is never out but down. This means taking responsibility for our part in the drama.

Political Cleverness

Be careful of political cleverness.  The big trick with high stakes. The "gotcha" that's irreversible. I'm talking about political expediency. Creating division between peoples who have become friends. About shaming someone for the sake of maneuver. 

Ultimately what it creates is the disruption of a whole society because the operating principles have changed while the minority of the people are still using the culture they were born and raised in.

Now I know that empires have risen and crumbled on political cleverness and the losers are the ones who often have the most integrity. Political progress has, for the most part been corruption, disruption and violence.

It is no wonder that young people believe they have to give up integrity in order to win in politics and business. Cleverness has become underhanded, fraudulent, sophistry. The most vulnerable are thrown under the bus while psychopaths are rewarded with high positions.

This is not simple naivete. It is the underground train that logs old forests, pollutes the air and the ocean, turns populations into criminals, parents into agents and children into pawns. It turns all relationships into corporations, and leaves a void where the village used to be.

We are rightfully disturbed when we witness our democracy crumbling under authoritarian rule, when the news is a list of violent events, and the town hall becomes a supermarket.

The trickle down currency of inequality is exploitation but even that word is too polite. Citizens become consumers then the consumed (cell phones, social media, then data).

In this environment we lose our leaders to gamesmanship, we ignore facts, dismiss science and swallow fake news because it resembles the familiar soap opera.

Now I'm not saying we all take the easy way out. I'm saying the playing field is full of snakes and pot holes so even competing in the game can leave us with permanent injuries. I'm saying that our earthly home has become a site of domestic violence as the corruption penetrates the spirit and the heart and our kin become prison guards.

I'm saying that good mental and physical health includes a healthy community. Yup that's social conscience  I guess.

Politics is about Humanity Not Just Economics

The previous post arose out of two articles, one by Chris Hedges "The Great Flood", and the other by George Monbiot "How do we get out of this mess".

From this, I isolated five "actions": 

1. transform our politics to include humanity and not just economics
2. appeal to as many people as possible, crossing traditional political lines
3. create the story to resonate with deep needs and desires
4. explain the mess we are in and means by which we might escape it
5. ground it firmly in reality.

This post is about the first one as you can see in the title. I plan to do the same for each of the five.

Instead of using grandiloquent language, Naomi Klein writes (in everyday words) from her latest book (No is Not Enough), and her "instructions" arise out of her commitment to facts. 

"Here is what we need to understand in a hurry: Climate change, especially at this late date, can only be dealt with through collective action that sharply curtails the behavior of corporations ..." 

Klein refers to the ever increasing tax cuts for the richest while the poorest pay with their health, their homes and their lives.

"Climate action demands investments in the public sphere". New energy sources - wind, sun, public transit, light rail. After defeating the fascists that were destroying Europe, after so many of our loved ones were lost in that hell, the "free" world understood what was at stake if governments did not focus on creating stability for their people. 

Investment means paying attention to the lives that matter, creating equality and hope for all, and of course higher taxes to pay for infrastructure. 

What makes us who we are? Are we merely the sum of the ideologies that govern or are we more? Are we the sum of our hatreds, our beliefs, or are we more? Does the Left Wing vs. Right Wing binary serve who we are? Are we physical bodies who seek the spiritual, or spiritual beings inside a body? Are we citizens or consumers? Are we good or evil?

When political arguments are solely about jobs and the economy it means that people have been written out of the narrative.

Politics is the shared construct of who we are, and politicians are the ones who serve the people, or the ones who betray humanity. None of us have a right to abdicate this relationship. To be a cynic is not just a turning away, it's giving a free ride to those who seek power in order to abuse it.

About Humanity

"A chosen people is the opposite of a master race, first, because it is not a race but a covenant; second because it exists to serve God, not to master others. A master race worships itself, a chosen people worships something beyond itself. A master race believes it has rights; a chosen people knows only that it has responsibilities." Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Not in God's Name, Schocken, New York. 2015.

As someone who does not identify as a chosen people or part of a master race, I ruminate about how to respond to the world, particularly that part of the world I cannot endorse. So I am comforted by the people who have taken on ministry and who feel responsible enough to care for community.

How do I act on a feeling of responsibility without assuming that I know what other people should do, or what we should do? It's very easy to slip into a political preaching that suggests I know, or that my being a good example means that others should follow it. Or worse yet, create a new ideology, which, if successful and influential, would uncover unintended consequences.

The eternal problem for me is, when does the power I have to take responsibility for the world and to act on it - become a power that oppresses another?

Many people who are privileged enough to have the time to think on this have offered good ideas on how we can survive the turmoil of violence and fear. Humanity has a voice. It doesn't have to be a single voice, and clearly it isn't, but I look for the cause of the causes of our problems. Perhaps the original cry for help before we engage in diversions that take us away from our brothers and sisters.

On good days I remember there are no solutions, which does not excuse me from struggling with the questions. I am part of an interdependent web of existence which is a gift and a burden.

Elizabeth May: this is what a leader looks like

May taken National Day of Action, Electoral Reform

The leader of the Green Party is an example of what a leader is. She focuses on the issues. She informs Canadians about what she is doing, what needs to be done, and why. Visit her website for well written and easy to read articles.

There is so much trivial noise created from various interests that the really important issues don't get the coverage they deserve.  But if you want to find out more about why things happen, their causes and what we can do about them visit the sites that inform.

A good leader knows that our collective survival is built on social justice not popularity.

Other leaders include, David Suzuki, Council of Canadians, staff at Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives , Karen Armstrong, and Thomas Mulcair.