SELECTING EFFECTIVE LEADERS
Elected leadership is compromised not just electorally, structurally, socially, financially in the United States of America, but it has also been compromised legally, judicially, historically, as well.
Are there not other, more efficient, ways to select political leaders than by popular elections? Those who are, once, elected are beholden to the financial interests who helped them, once, and may never again, if that elected person is not obedient.
Compounding the financial overlay is the underlying structural edifice, whereby the electoral college is an invisible, barely understood check on runaway populism; and judiciary with the power to gerrymander districts and to decide outcomes.
So, the American republican form of government so broadly bragged about to the world, is not really so democratic, as its Greek ideal would seem to be, which Greek ideal, itself, was less than idyllic, judging from the fate of Socrates!
"Rigged elections" for black people go back to "Reconstruction," when the white power, unreconstructed, U. S. Supreme Court, ignored the Colfax, Louisiana, murders of 200 black elected officials, by banishing the former rebel soldiers, who were perpetrators' federal prosecutions in 1867. Bloody end to civil hope!
These thoughts have come to mind, as I reflect upon a passage from THE ELOQUENCE OF THE SCRIBES by Ayi Kwei Armah (2006) of Ghana and the world. He writes:
"It was a sore point with my mother that I refused to take seriously the idea of my family being so-called natural rulers. Discussions with her on the subject were uneasy and infrequent . Once or twice she cut them short in anger. The trouble was that though I was quiet, I could be a rather articulate , undiplomatic child. Our family 's claim to authority was founded not on warfare but on the fact that our ancestors had made migrations, founded settlements, and stayed committed to cultural values our people considered vital. I made it clear that while I thought all this a splendid achievement--'for them'--I considered the notion that their social status could be passed down to us, their physical descendants, not through any achievement of our own but simply because we were of their blood, a case of social fraud. In the beginning, my mother laughed off my arguments as exhibitions of childish foolishness. She firmly expected me to grow out of such silly egalitarian ideas . When, in my early adult years, she understood that I was not about to change my thinking about status, the notion of natural rulers, hereditary power and social privilege, her disappointment turned to fury. I doubt whether I can really say I survived the impact of a proud mother 's expectant love turned to rage."
P. 28-29, "Myth, Literature, and the African Child."
In light of the foregoing, I again ask the same question as posed at the outset, viz: are there not more efficient ways of selecting political leadership than described above?
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
AYI KWEI ARMAH
SELECTING EFFECTIVE LEADERS
Elected leadership is compromised not just electorally, structurally, socially, financially in the United States of America, but it has also been compromised legally, judicially, historically, as well.
Are there not other, more efficient, ways to select political leaders than by popular elections? Those who are, once, elected are beholden to the financial interests who helped them, once, and may never again, if that elected person is not obedient.
Compounding the financial overlay is the underlying structural edifice, whereby the electoral college is an invisible, barely understood check on runaway populism; and judiciary with the power to gerrymander districts and to decide outcomes.
So, the American republican form of government so broadly bragged about to the world, is not really so democratic, as its Greek ideal would seem to be, which Greek ideal, itself, was less than idyllic, judging from the fate of Socrates!
"Rigged elections" for black people go back to "Reconstruction," when the white power, unreconstructed, U. S. Supreme Court, ignored the Colfax, Louisiana, murders of 200 black elected officials, by banishing the former rebel soldiers, who were perpetrators' federal prosecutions in 1867. Bloody end to civil hope!
These thoughts have come to mind, as I reflect upon a passage from THE ELOQUENCE OF THE SCRIBES by Ayi Kwei Armah (2006) of Ghana and the world. He writes:
"It was a sore point with my mother that I refused to take seriously the idea of my family being so-called natural rulers. Discussions with her on the subject were uneasy and infrequent . Once or twice she cut them short in anger. The trouble was that though I was quiet, I could be a rather articulate , undiplomatic child. Our family 's claim to authority was founded not on warfare but on the fact that our ancestors had made migrations, founded settlements, and stayed committed to cultural values our people considered vital. I made it clear that while I thought all this a splendid achievement--'for them'--I considered the notion that their social status could be passed down to us, their physical descendants, not through any achievement of our own but simply because we were of their blood, a case of social fraud. In the beginning, my mother laughed off my arguments as exhibitions of childish foolishness. She firmly expected me to grow out of such silly egalitarian ideas . When, in my early adult years, she understood that I was not about to change my thinking about status, the notion of natural rulers, hereditary power and social privilege, her disappointment turned to fury. I doubt whether I can really say I survived the impact of a proud mother 's expectant love turned to rage."
P. 28-29, "Myth, Literature, and the African Child."
In light of the foregoing, I again ask the same question as posed at the outset, viz: are there not more efficient ways of selecting political leadership than described above?