What Makes a "Good" Ruler?

[JamesHackerMP]

Not familiar with Lee Kuan Yew's accomplisments, except I know he was "prime minister" (more like dictator) of Singapore.  Vlad the Impaler--er, President Putin--I agree hasn't done much for his people except look badass to them, I'd agree.

I agree that even democratic leaders have to be SOB's some times (at least mean ones), I think it was Voltaire who said governments need both shepherds and butchers.

[?Impact]

On 2016-11-03 at 9:28 AM, JamesHackerMP said:

That's an important point: "I won the election, the People are behind me, therefore I can do what I want" is a pretty disastrous thing.  A good ruler/leader/whatever respects the fact that you have to compromise no matter what, even if you have a majority of the electorate behind you.

That sentence bears rereading.

[Moonlight Graham]

On 2016-10-31 at 6:00 AM, JamesHackerMP said:

Definitely more of a philosophical thread, this is.  So: what makes a ruler good? By what metrics do we measure him/her? There are lots of different standards of political philosophy.  I was curious what Canadians (and others) seem to think about this one.

An ethical and fairly honest person who does what the people want and acts in their interests. 

Unfortunately, the way the system works now, especially the Canadian system, it's very hard to ethical and honest and become PM/POTUS.  An MP has to kiss so much ass in his party, rarely go against the party, and make lots of friends among other politicians who are ethically degenerate in order to win their support as leader.

Edited February 5, 2017 by Moonlight Graham

[OftenWrong]

2 hours ago, ?Impact said:

That sentence bears rereading.

It's easy to be a nice leader when everyone is your friend and willing to cooperate. What if you are the leader and face a congress that has members who are 100% opposed to anything you want to do, no matter what it is? Then if you want to get something done, can't be too 'benevolent'.

You people make it sound like  good leader would be Kung Fu Tse. He's all about being a gentleman.

But now what if Attila the Hun is coming with his army to your border lands, and you need to recruit some defensive forces pronto? No time for cooperation now. You gotta conscript your young men to war, whether they like it or not. Agree, or not.

What if the polecat is in the hen house? You've gotta shut that stuff down, in the best interest of the STATE.

A good ruler is one who has a clear vision of what needs to be done, strong determination to follow through and the smarts to pull it off against their political enemies. They know how to make the right compromise between fairness, and necessary unfairness.

Edited February 6, 2017 by OftenWrong

[Omni]

4 hours ago, OftenWrong said:

They know how to make the right compromise between fairness, and necessary unfairness.

I'd be interested to hear your description of this strange concept. "necessary unfairness"

[JamesHackerMP]

The problem, oftenwrong, is that it may often seem that way to some politicians.  I can't compromise because my opponents are so nuts is an overused excuse.  It always looks that way because politics is war.  You have to try, anyway!

Edited February 6, 2017 by JamesHackerMP