Do We Have the Leaders We Deserve?

Watching part of a Nelson Mandela documentary today and it's amazing how people respond to the guy. They write songs about him. They love and adore him. Bill Clinton recently said that Mandela was the best man he's ever known, and I figure Clinton has met nearly everyone important from his generation.

It made me think about how most Americans respond to our leaders and representatives. We've got George Bush and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and Dick Cheney. Regardless of politics, no one really adores these people. They don't seem, on the surface at least, to be the best America can offer to the world. Or maybe they are.

A lot of punditry and op-eds lament that the American people deserve better. There is a romantic notion of the American people and how we deserve better leaders. All the new candidates say so. But is this true? Maybe we get the leaders we deserve. Our loyalties are fickle and based upon self interest. We want character, but at the same time, we want winners. We want good leaders, but we also want good looking leaders. Plus, we vote for these people...

The same goes for other things. So many people talk about how TV is stupid. Regardless of the fact that the Soprano's might be the greatest TV show of all time, people still lament TV. But TV sucks because that's what people want to watch. So isn't it more the case that people suck and our TV reflects it?

Another thing...a lot of people who don't support the war say they support the troops. But how is that really true? That is like saying, "I support you, but I don't believe the work you are doing is useful. In fact, I think what you're doing is bad." Wouldn't it make more sense to say, "I don't support the troops. I don't think what you are doing is good. I think it is wrong, unhelpful to you and to the people there." Plus, the most awful thing about Iraq - Abu Gharib - was perpetrated by troops. The Marine's on trial for murder at Haditha - more troops.

I guess it's one the problems with Democracy and a Market economy - we don't really have any legitimate gripe against anyone but ourselves...