Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Leadership vs. Consensus


“Leaders are like Eagles. They do not flock. You find them one at a time.” I have this phrase written inside the flyleaf of my Bible. I believe it.

President Bush is a leader. You may disagree with where he is leading, but, by golly, he leads.

I can feel the hackles of the Democrats rising to a vertical position and the low growls emanating from their throats as they read this.

That’s OK. They can be forgiven for not recognizing leadership when they see it. Lord knows… there has not been a Democrat Leader in the Presidency since Harry Truman.

A leader does not council with a group of peers, or would be peers, and then act upon the decision of the group. No. That is not leadership. A leader looks at, and considers, his options, carefully, then decides upon a course of action and initiates that action. That is Leadership.

A true leader is at the point of the spear. He is out front, leading the way. He does not second-guess his decisions.

Those who are unable to make tough decisions are repelled by this and outraged that a leader would dare, well, lead. So, at very opportunity they take pot shots at him to attempt to assuage their own impotency. The leader is a wonderful target for those of lesser ability, driven by envy, because he is where a good leader is supposed to be. Out front, leading the way. He’s easy to see and easy to hit. But he does not flinch.

“Nuanced” speech has no place in the lexicon of a leader. He feels no need to explain himself. If he should feel that need, he is no longer a leader and should step down at the earliest opportunity.

Lady Margaret Thatcher said: “Consensus is the Negation of Leadership.” She was “spot on”. She was also a leader. There have been leaders, down through history, and those men and women have left their marks for all to see. Among them Churchill, Alexander, Peter the Great, Julius Caesar, Hannibal, Genghis Khan, just to name a few.

Peter the Great dragged his nation, Russia, into modern times, with them kicking and screaming all the way. He was a leader. You might like him, you might dislike him, you might not like his methods, but he led his country out of their backwards history and made them into a world power.

The average American understands that George Bush is a leader. He is not given to flowery eloquence when he speaks, but the average American understands a plainspoken man. They understand George Bush. He speaks to them on their level. The elite intelligentsia gnashes their teeth when President Bush steps up to a microphone. They cannot hear his words over the grinding noise made by their gnashing teeth. Therefore they miss what the average American hears. The elite are left with no understanding. Yet, they aspire to all wisdom and have convinced themselves that they have it all, wisdom, understanding, and truth. The truth is… they wouldn’t recognize the truth if it stood before them… as it does in the form of George Bush.

The Democrats are so full of themselves, at this point in history, that they have decided they will impeach the President. They do not understand that to impeach the President is to impeach the American people. The American people will not forgive the Democrats, for the blunder they are about to make, for at least a generation.

I did not like Harry Truman’s politics, but I liked Harry. He was a leader. He fired one of the US Generals I liked most McArthur. He didn’t check the polls, or have strategy meetings about it. He just fired Mac. That’s leadership.

When Truman decided to drop the Bomb on Japan all his advisors told him the war was won, already, and the bomb wasn’t necessary. Truman thought it was necessary and ordered it dropped. History proved he was correct. He did not second-guess himself. That’s leadership. He stared Stalin down at Yalta. He was right and he knew it.

Leadership is not an ethereal thing. It is easily seen and quite often despised by those with aspirations to leadership but know they, themselves, do not possess the qualities. Leadership is threatening to them… and like the peasants in the old horror movies, out come the pitchforks, and the torches, and a mad rush to destroy the “Monster” is soon underway. Such is the mad dash by the Democrats, in Washington, to destroy the President today. They are frightened, they are cowed, and they are impotent, … and they take solace in mob rule.

Please note "Mob Rule" is leaderless. That is the definition of a mob. And THAT, Dear Reader, is where we are with national politics in Washington, today.

Longstreet

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

You forgot:

Emperor Nero, Vlad Dracul, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Castro, etc., etc.

They all fit your defintion of a "leader":

"A leader does not council with a group of peers, or would be peers, and then act upon the decision of the group. No. That is not leadership. A leader looks at, and considers, his options, carefully, then decides upon a course of action and initiates that action. That is Leadership.

A true leader is at the point of the spear. He is out front, leading the way. He does not second-guess his decisions."

Anonymous said...

It took a while to stop laughing before responding to this post.

Bush a leader?

You've got to be kidding me!

The guy spends more than $1 million a month on polls. He switches positions every time the political wind changes.

Remember how he was against the Department of Homeland Security BEFORE he was for it?

Remember how he was against the 9/11 Commission before he was for it?

Even his "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" demonstrates his dependence on polls to tell him which way to go.

It wasn't written by diplomats and generals -- but by Bush's top pollster.

Bush is certainly no leader.

Longstreet said...

"You forgot:

Emperor Nero, Vlad Dracul, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Castro, etc., etc."

No, I didn't forget them. I only named those that came instantly to mind. In fact I included Genghis Khan. All the men you named WERE great leaders. That cannot be denied. WHERE they led is an altogether different topic,however.

Longstreet said...

"It took a while to stop laughing before responding to this post.

Bush a leader?

You've got to be kidding me!"
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Did you laugh 'til it hurt?

I told you, very clearly, in the post that you would not recognise a leader when you saw one. I rest my case!

Anonymous said...

Way to go, Longstreet! The left still thinks John Kerry is a leader! Now THAT'S a HOWLER!

Made my day!

OTTMANN said...

Longstreet,
Great post and very true, despite what the liberal losers say. Libs believe groupthink is good because most have no ideas of their own and they're too affraid of confrontation to disagree.

So when any old idea (like tax hikes or protesting the war) is thrown out, they all climb on the yes wagon, riding along happily chanting Bush sucks, before realizing they're going down hill with no breaks.

And that is the great thing that will keep the GOP in power for a long time!

Here's another good one... I heard Gore might be coming back! :)

Longstreet said...

"Here's another good one... I heard Gore might be coming back! :)"

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God is TOO good!

Anonymous said...

Leader? Where to? Off A cliff I hope! Being a leader doesn't necessarily mean great leadership skills, he is the pied piper for morons. Liberal Losers like your one clown friend says I doubt it. Bushes leadership decisions murdered over 1000 of our finest young adults. He is guilty of treason and I for one want him held accountable, he is a deserter and a coward. It is too bad the Liberals don't revolt and take this country back, that should be their New Years resolution: To start a revolution. And rid us of the Consrvative Occupation in this country. If you are extremely right wing you are an evil occupier in this great nation and that can no longer be tolerated.

Longstreet said...

"It is too bad the Liberals don't revolt and take this country back, that should be their New Years resolution: To start a revolution. And rid us of the Consrvative Occupation in this country. If you are extremely right wing you are an evil occupier in this great nation and that can no longer be tolerated."
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First, yoiu need a Leader... which you do not have. And, given the propensity, of the Left, to drop to the ground and assume the fetal position, at the first pop of a militray rifle, I'd say, Conservatives have nothing to fear from that quarter.

Anonymous said...

Ah, a half witted ad hominem attack.

But no response to the fact that Bush depends on polls and pollsters instead of generals and diplomats to fight his war.

He's not a leader -- but a cowardly follower dependent on polling.

I guess the truth hurts that you've been following him? Going around in circles.

Anonymous said...

"Ah, a half witted ad hominem attack.

But no response to the fact that Bush depends on polls and pollsters instead of generals and diplomats to fight his war."
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This is just more "group-think by the left! They are unable to see past their hatred and envy of the President and the Conservatives. They seem totally unaware that They have become a comedy act. Americans are laughing at their arrogance, their complete disconnect with the real world and their futile, infantile, foot stamping and pouting. They are clueless, careless, callous, conceited,confused, and condemned by their own lack of anything to offer the American people. These are power crazed people striking out in withdrawal from their power trip of 40 some odd years.

This bunch, crowding beneath the Democrat banner today,are not democrats. The Democrat Party is gone! Whoever they are, they do not deny that they are Socialists. It would seem our victory in the Cold War, we fought for forty years to dispose of the Socialists in the Soviet Union, is tempered by the Socialist movement in our own country. If we don't stamp them out, they will do to the US what they did to Russia. They will strangle freedom to death and neuter us as a nation. America must turn her attention to eradicating the Socialist Movement in America as we did in the Soviet Union. We must never allow them to regain power in our government ever again. If we do... America will be lost. The last hope of the world for freedom and democracy will be lost. They will deliver this nation into the hands of her enemies and beg to be allowed to live in slavery.

The choice in the elections in 2006, and 2008, have never been more clear. Republican for freedom and democracy. Democrat for socialism and slavery.

Anonymous said...

The choice in the elections in 2006, and 2008, have never been more clear. Republican for freedom and democracy. Democrat for socialism and slavery.

Actually, you have that backwards.

Of course, it doesn't really matter since the Repugs will simply steal the elections like they did in 2000 and 2004. They're getting quite good at it, you know!

Anonymous said...

Accusations and no facts to back them up.

It's a simple question: How can anyone take Bush seriously as a leader when his "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" was written not by a general or diplomat -- but Bush's top pollster?

Longstreet said...

"It's a simple question: How can anyone take Bush seriously as a leader when his "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" was written not by a general or diplomat -- but Bush's top pollster?"
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Oh, you mean like Clinton?

Anonymous said...

We do not deny being called socialist because we know this to be untrue so why waste breath. And when you guys attack FDR and all the progress made in this country remember one thing. The guys on the left (FDR, etc) stood against the right (Hiltet, etc.) and we on the left now stand against imperialistc facists whose type of evil the world has never seen. These guys would wipe out the NEW DEAL, 40 hr work weak, minimun wage, clean air acts, OSHA, Medical coverage, retirement plans and set this country back to the point where people will work 60 hrs. a week, for nothing and hour, have no time for their families, live in squaller, work until the day they die, now for a party that says it's for family values, I just do not see where. Someone who puts property rights over civil and individual rights can't be tolerated.