What is a Leader?

Hello!

The potential for an election is strong within the Canadian political sphere. With the upcoming budget, there is a strong chance that funding dedicated to certain areas may not only cause a loss of confidence in our Canadian Parliament and Stephen Harper's Canada, but also become hot election debates for Canadians to think about.

Our American cousins are also on the path of preparing potential contenders to take on Obama in 2012 for the job as President of the United States.

With these exciting and very important events comes the age old question about our leaders, how we choose them and the ethical philosophy behind them.

A phrase often associated with marriage states: "When you marry a girl, you not only marry her, but her entire family." This holds a lot of weight when it comes to an election and to choosing a leader to essentially run our country. I should correct myself though, as reality will show that our leaders do not essentially run our country, we the people do that via going to work daily and consuming, but it is true that these leaders will have a significant impact on the overall direction our country decides to take.

The question I have among many others though is how can we be sure that our choice of leadership is truly the right one?

The reality is that there is a lot of risk with every election that we partake in and even though a leader may seem like the right fit, it does not essentially guarantee that his/her party will follow suit.

There are many different factors that heavily weigh in on the political system and I believe that this does not bring down the importance of voting, but rather increases the responsibility for people to vote. Something that may further inhibit people, maybe due to the fear of having to much responsibility in ones life?

Either way, a leader has to be someone with whom we believe can truly make our ideals and values a common practice in government and as a result run the country for the benefit of all, right? Unfortunately, this does not always become a reality in today's politics and the reason why is due to the the previously mentioned fact: voting!

How do you think a population can truly select it's leader without knowing about the political system or information about the leader?

Society has become quite complex and with increased population and the multitude of different beliefs and styles present, we truly have become a race of individual people, who everyday are becoming more and more equal. However, with this great achievement of diversity, we end up tieing ourselves down with indecision and essentially to much choice. The reason for this is mainly explained due to the tyranny of the majority, we have so many people present and when someone is elected, they are often done so to the dismay of many smaller groups who were unable to extend their voice the highest. Not to mention, that many leaders today have to be very multifaceted in order to accommodate as many people as they can to their side of the race.

The question you have to ask though is: Why do leaders often promise one thing to the majority of voters and when elected go back on their original promise?

Could it be that our society has lost its step when it comes to the political process? Sure, a leader will make everyone seem full of hope and optimism, but with so many people deciding to not partake in the political system, that leader only has one thing to ensure and that is the happiness and satisfaction of the people who directly contribute to the leaders success. Essentially, what I am saying is that the tyranny of the majority is in reality a tyranny of the minority of powerful entities that vote and this has been allowed to occur mainly due to a lack of participation from the people who rely on the political system the most...the average citizen.

I will leave the discussion at this point and await some feedback from anyone reading.

Tell me what you think a good leader should possess? Be specific, often times many people will list general abilities that in reality should be the foundation of every leader, but sadly remains the perk of only good leaders.

Until next time.