Max Weber |
Max Weber, a German sociologist and
philosopher in the early 20th century, observed the truth about how difficult politics
really is:
“Politics is a strong and slow
boring of hard boards. It requires passion as well as perspective. Certainly
all historical experience confirms — that man would not have achieved the
possible unless time and again he had reached out for the impossible.
“But to do that, a man must be a
leader, and more than a leader, he must be a hero as well, in a very sober
sense of the word. And even those who are neither leaders nor heroes must arm
themselves with that resolve of heart which can brave even the failing of all
hopes.
“This is necessary right now,
otherwise we shall fail to attain that which it is possible to achieve today.
“Only he
who is certain not to destroy himself in the process should hear the call of
politics; he must
endure even though he finds the world too stupid or too petty for that which he
would offer. In the face of that he must have the resolve to say ‘and yet,’ — for
only then does he hear the ‘call’ of politics.”
If only there was some way to make
sure that every elected public official now in office has read Weber’s quote,
memorized it and taken it to heart with them into work every single day. We
might have a shot at solving real problems then instead of engaging in the
kindergarten antics we see daily in Congress.
However, not every elected official
has the capacity to be a great leader. True leadership
is as rare as the most precious gemstone.
Weber says the true leader-hero “must
endure even though he finds the world too stupid or too petty” which is very
difficult for many successful people.
“Have you watched these clowns on
the city council on local cable access? They are idiots!” I have heard many
successful people say. “I have no intention of being in the same room with such
people!”
“Yes, but those clown people are
making laws that you successful people have to abide by and follow,” I tell
them.
Blank stares ensue.
“And if you are as smart and
successful as you think you are, don’t you think you can run circles around the
idiots and cretins on any legislative body and outsmart them and craft
legislation more to your liking than theirs?” I will usually follow up.
Blank stares again.
Successful people have no one to
blame but themselves when it comes to electoral politics. They don’t run in the
numbers they used to, even as recently as the 1980s. Once they ceded the
battlefield of politics to less talented people, we as a nation got what we
deserved: stalemate on every big issue we face, name-calling, finger-pointing
and $21 trillion in national debt and counting.
“Man would not have achieved the
possible unless time and again he had reached for the impossible.”
Weber correctly points out that
leader-heroes have to have the vision to see where our nation can go together
before the rest of us can get there.
Civil rights were not achieved by everyone
accepting the status quo forever. Balancing the budget from 1998-2001 was not
done by congressmen who promised not to cut spending or reform entitlements
because they knew it was morally reprehensible to not succeed.
We need leader-heroes with vision
and guts. The best leaders don’t care whether they get reelected or not.
“Only he who is certain not to
destroy himself in the process should hear the call of politics.” Leader-heroes
have the intelligence, the internal fortitude and the reasoned experience to
avoid the pitfalls of politics and public service.
We just need more of them.
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