On leadership

[nadinbrzezinski]

We agree that we need leaders, yet we forget we are those leaders.

Today we stand all on our own, asking, wanting, for someobdy to say FOLLOW ME! into the Breach once again!

Yet nobody stands up and tells us FOLLOW ME.

It is the case in the human condition that we are mostly trained to follow, yet we did not choose to be born to face these tribulations. These tribulations demand we act. They demand that you and me stand up, and step into the breach. We are to become those leaders.

Yet many of you may ask, why me? Rosa Parks did not ask, she acted. The founding fathers did not ask who would lead, they lead. This is not the time any longer to expect for somebody else to lead. It is up to us.

Our Declaration of Independence is indeed our marching orders. It does state, among other things, that those who can act, have the obligation to do such. This is our time. What we face is tyranny, for no other recourse is left to us. Indeed, government derives its power from the consent of the governed and that consent is fleeting in the best of times... it is no longer there these days.

Who will answer the call? Who will get out of the way?

For Democracy we must do this. For our future we must do this. We must step into the breach. Be conscious that some of us may die. This is the cost of freedom. After all, that tree must be fertilized with the blood of patriots from time to time. But out of that sacrifice and those years of toil, for this will take years, a brigher future will emerge. We do not do this for ourselves, but for our children. We do not do this for the present, but for the future. We do not do this becuase we want any glory or honor, for most of us will not even be remembered. We do this for love of country, true love of country.

Who will follow and who will lead? Who will see that leader inside of him or her and let that leader emerge?

The hour is now.

We cannot wait for others to do this.

Who... WHO...

[undergroundpanther]

1. Leaders

Recreate the same societies over and over ,heirarchical structures to serve leaders.

When we lead ourselves,and care for one another as equals we begin to actualize ourselves,We find out what we really want and stop buying a boatload of crap we are told to want,We begin to envision what kind of culture we seek to live in,what kind of life we want to live and we define ourselvves by ourselves..Soon We stop looking to books and beliefs and idealogies to fix society,because we see change begins in our own heart first.When we start fixing ourselves facing fears,speaking truth to power,rebelling against corruption, We growin our own way,and we see the game for the lie it is and become sane.THe Leader obeyers will see a self acutalized free and fully aware person as crazy,a threat a danger to thier hierarchical security mechanism..If we persue our own happiness ,seek a comfortable state of being,and do it with a desire to help all people be free, in a realistic way..If we seek community instead of winning, and hold onto our integrity inside ourselves and encourage the development of integrity together ,When we disobey authority,and question anything anyone would have us do or believe that would offend our sense of integrity,our sense of right and wrong,that comes from compassion experince and the ability to FEEL beyond our own wants ,A certain fairness and equality emerges that is diverse,and empowered and unable to be harnessed and exploited by leaders or corruption.This free culture goes against the other kind of culture of leader and follower..If we act like leaders,negotiate like ambassadors with eeach other and become caring than we will be free the more we share what we are and what we have with everyone..

We will Not ever be free from obligations to respect or cultivate each other's well being ,but we can be free of the false parasitic obligations to leaders,Those entitlement deluded narcissists who use people's vunerabilities, fear and lack of self knowlege and self trust,thier very misery to enrich themselves control culture and dominate others to make sure they never know how to leave the abusive relationship of leader and serf all UNEQUAL Leader run societies are based in..

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. I'd truly like to believe that the utopia you describe

is possible. Any social movement requires a focus, whether you want to call that a leader or not.

Some are good for society... Rosa Parks, MLK, Christ, Gandhi... others are parasitic and rely on fear... Hitler, Bush, Mao Stalin,

Yet they were leaders, all of them...

Some were GOOD leaders, willing to pay the price, Martin and Gandhi certainly did... others were cowards, Stalin and Bush share more in comon than you may want to believe... I know the comparisons to Hitler, but when it comes to military command and actually rewriting history of their military service, both Stalin and Bush share much in common... and both are the worst kind of leader....

I'd like to believe that out fo the grassroots leaders will emerge who will be an example for the rest of us... in this fight against Tyranny... but that is must me.

[undergroundpanther]

3. To lead others

Without resorting to authoritarianism, bullying and abuse,reqires a 'leader' to be humble and refuse to sell thier own inner locus of control,thier integrity or dignity out for power,popularity,P.R. or perks.Any leader that lies or spins to gain any kind of social "hegemony" over others for your own 'clique to feel superior at the expense of the pluralistic freedom and dissent that makes societies free and compassionate is no "leader".This kind of freedom takes a leader that is reluctant to take advantage of a position of power,even if they could get away with it..A leader with out domination who knows all authority is in reality an empty sound, that is created in the absence of true power,foisted as a grande lying spectacle to subjugate the hearts of a people that have forgotten thier right to be free from abuse,who no longer dissent against corrupted leaders and sick social "hegemonies"..

[m berst]

4. good thread

I see it happening both ways, and getting closer to resolution. While people are scanning the horizon for the leader, the future leaders are watching the people and asking "are they ready yet?"

During the late campaign season I saw people looking for, or believing they had found, a perfect savior. That places a burden on potential leaders that is devastating, because it doesn't allow for the emergence and development of leadership. The perfect savior must come ready made, and following the leader becomes more like celebrity worship. It is part of the shopping mentality that has affected everything - look on the shelf to see what is available, select, purchase, and own. The relationship that we have with things we shop for is different than the relationship we have with a leader, if the leader is to be effective.

You see people already scanning the horizon for a leader for 2008. This will lead to a moribund and static state of affairs, and leadership will not be able to emerge. People will say "look we have been all through this and decided that so and so was the best" - like a consumer choice, rather than a decision to engage in a dynamic process that starts now and evolves. If we ask that the leader already be "winning" before we lift a finger to follow -"I have never heard of her! She is a nobody!" or if we won't allow change and growth in a leader "hey! He used to be a Republican!" then we are forever looking for the new savior and dismissing the leadership potential in ourselves and those around us.

30 years of self-centered consumerism and exaggerated individualism has impaired people's ability to lead or to follow, maybe. Necessity will soon force us to relearn these abilities.

Just watch people, though, as they look over the "choices" and hesitantly hang back non-commitally and then make decisions - we have become a nation of shoppers! Disengaged, aloof, scanning and analyzing, staying uncommitted and then finally arriving at a decision as to what is "best for us" and then shutting down all thought about it and defending our choice to the death. Good way to buy a car; bad way to select a leader. There is no fluidity in that process, no give and take, no dynamism.