Over the last few days TV reports have been full of street demonstrations by citizens of Egypt. They want their authoritarian leader of thirty years- Hosni Mubarak - to leave. Should he? Of Course he should. A country does not belong to any one person. It belongs to the people as a whole and if the vast majority of the population wants a leader to quit and make that very clear through the sort of demonstrations that are taking place in Egypt, then the leader should quit. He has absolutely no human or moral right to continue. If he uses force to stay on, he is acting no better than the thieves and looters on the street who too take what does not belong to them by force. In fact he then becomes many times worse, because his loot is so massive.
Personally, I am not against any King, Dictator or political leader for monopolizing large amounts of money and resources for his personal use. After all, if a leader has to keep his mind free for dealing with national issues we cant have him worrying about the next month’s electricity bill, developing a queasy stomach by purchasing less than desirable cuts of meat on sale, being disturbed by loud music at the neighbor, or ruining his sleep on a mattress with springs that poke. However if the mind so freed does not result in policies that alleviate the misery of a substantial portion of the population, then the moral responsibility for that misery falls on the leader. If the leader is a dictator it becomes his sole responsibility. I dread of to think of the undesirable karma that all this must accumulate for a political leader. It is true that a political leader cannot be held responsible for the misery caused by a natural calamity or a world event outside his control. However, the responsibility of hardships caused by faulty policy, inaction or corruption does fall on the leader. A leader may argue that he is doing the best he can but if the best is not good enough and the people think so, it is time for him to pack his bags and give someone else a chance.
6 comments:
Ashok,
I agree that national leaders shouldn’t worry about next electricity bill, and if they are not vegetarians, I hope their countries can afford to pay for good cuts of their choice. I also hope they would be provided a quiet residence and good mattress. But I expect national leaders to have the highest standard of conducts and their only priority needs to be serving their citizens and all human beings in the world. If they want to make money, they should go to a business sector, if they want power, they should perhaps train themselves into boxing or something, and if they are interested in immoral sex, don’t even think of becoming any leader. In my opinion, a national leader is very special post, and serving a large number of people is a huge privilege. If they don’t think so, they are not leaders.
Right on Keiko. Very well said. I agree with you completely. Unfortunately though the reality is often the opposite in many cases. It just goes to show that humans and their systems have still got a long evolution ahead of them. Perhaps power corrupts the present human much too easily, and absolute power corrupts even more.
Quote from Mubarak: “I have a PhD in obstinacy.” Obstinacy at his level is a disease, not a qualification, likely to attract a bullet in the head. Which has the virtue of being a guaranteed cure for this ailment.
Very Well Said Vincent.
Looks like Hosni Mubarak heard the message of my post and created/sponsored a group to demonstrate in hais favor yesterday. His group was a violent one unfortunately.
Thank God Hosni Mubarak has gone now. Autocratic leaders must realise that they do not own a country. It belongs to the people and they must go if the people want them to go.
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