Where Have All The Leaders Gone?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics
That’s the title of legendary businessman, Lee Iacocca’s new book, and boy does he come out swinging at our leaders.
Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.”Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!
You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don’t need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?
Does this sound like Iacocca is calling for impeachment? It certainly sounds that way to me.
There are a few things I agree with in the paragraphs above, most succinctly the ignore the Constitution part. But mostly it’s a rant and people are welcome to their rants. However, Lee asks some incredibly powerful questions about the current state our the body politic and here it is…
Where are the voices of leaders who can inspire us to action and make us stand taller? What happened to the strong and resolute party of Lincoln? What happened to the courageous, populist party of FDR and Truman? There was a time in this country when the voices of great leaders lifted us up and made us want to do better. Where have all the leaders gone?
Indeed.
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April 11th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
.
They slogged it out against bloodthirsty enemies in unpopular wars at home and overseas, amidst enormous criticism by domestic opponents who called for retreat and surrender, and persevered through unprecidented sacrifice by young Americans. What happened to those types of leaders? Indeed.
April 11th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
I don’t think the comparisons are apt at all.
Lincoln was involved in a Civil War, so it goes without saying that a certain number of people felt the war was unpopular. FDR and Truman fought through a complete World War where nearly every single country in the world had to pick a side.
Additionally, all of those wars were necessary and the evidence was clear or attacking.
How does this compare to the Iraq war again?
April 12th, 2007 at 9:12 am
CALIFORNIA?
April 12th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Perhaps the American experiment is ended?
I think it is time that Americans seriously started thinking about our long-term future and not next quarter’s dividends. Short-term thinking and immediate gratification are serous flaws in body politic/American character. I don’t have a dog in this fight (no children), but I am concerned about the future of my beloved homeland.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:31 am
Even in the north? There was huge political opposition to Lincoln within the remaining union states, that dwarfs what we are seeing now in both scope and scale.
With Truman, I was referring to the Korean War, which America eventually did not win, and was so unpopular that his approval ratings were amongst the lowest in history at 22% and he couldn’t even get his party’s nomination in 1952!
Over 250,000 U.S. troops died in WWII, But FDR remained steadfast through the war, which we could have easily lost on both fronts. Bush at least remains as determined to achieve victory against terrorism, and the sacrifice our armed forces have endured so far (and will endure until victory is achieved) in Iraq, pales in comparison to what was lost during just several battles in Europe.
I suppose you can say in hindsight that these wars were necessary, but then again, how do you think fundamentalist Islam will fair in the 21st century? Especially when nuclear fuel will be ubiquitous on the black market if nothing is done. Do you have hindsight that the Iraq war is going to be futile?
April 12th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
There is a recently published book “Triumph of the Airheads” that I think I can recommend.
As it was written by an Aussie the words should not be too difficult to understand.
The important thing - and it connects to this item here - is that it is not limited to the likes of Paris Hilton or Bridget Jones.
From the SMH article I linked above -
“Airheadism is not about intelligence or gender or honest absentmindedness. It’s about values - or the lack of them. It’s elevating style over substance and forgetting (when convenient) that actions have consequences.
The results of airheadism can be merely farcical, like the cash-strapped CSIRO spending $70,000 on a “communications conference”, complete with magician. Gare enumerates many such follies but she also shows that airheadism can lead to tragedy. She cites Iraq, HIH, Enron, Dianne Brimble, “children overboard”, obesity and the AWB kickbacks scandal.
The “perfect example”, though, was Hurricane Katrina. It illustrated how “a phalanx of decisions made by airheads, or made by people under the influence of airheadism, can pile up into catastrophe”.
Thus, expert advice from climatologists was ignored, the levees protecting New Orleans were underfunded and unqualified political cronies were appointed to key disaster relief agencies. Inevitably, the poorest citizens suffered most. Yet Barbara Bush could say of refugees camping at a sports arena: “Many of the people … here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, [chuckles slightly] is working very well for them.”
April 12th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
I daresay Iacocca’s rant has nothing on this piece from Gates of Vienna, which basically accuses Bush of trying to quietly create a “North American Union” along the lines of its European counterpart, with all the nasty stuff that entails.
Bush wanted to be “a uniter, not a divider”. With both the hard Left and hard Right now bitterly opposed to his policies, he may actually be accomplishing this, just not in the way he had in mind.
April 22nd, 2007 at 5:35 pm
With Mr. Lee Iacocca’s wisdom & capacity, why doesn’t he do something creative - like start a “grass-roots” movement, organize and education awareness group - other. after all, he has more capability for leadeship than any of the rest of us, including possessing most of the 9 “C”s. Writing a book (for personal gain???) or sending an e-mail out to the web doesn’t take a lot of effort or show a lot of creativity from a man with his credentials.
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:58 am
I too am upset and concerned with the leadership of our country. I’m angry that most everyone I know feels powerless to make a difference. I Agree with you Lee on most of your points. You’ve expressed a great deal of critisizm and some very serious doubts. Now, what are your solutions?
We can all take our turn shouting at the wind, but that doesn’t cure the problem. All our shouting will just turn into some more propaganda. Lets use all our creativity and honestly look at all angles of our dilema. Remember, propaganda would not exist if all people required an educated opinion. (you can quote me on that).
By the way, I’m available to discuss ideas for the future success of our country. Lets stop shouting and start talking.