National Pinata and the High School Athletic Directors...

Politicians and soldiers are quite similar in that they are both leaders. All leaders are also followers. As a matter of historical record, Christ and the apostles were leaders but also followers. When you are leading at a certain level, you remain a follower in some sense.  As a matter of historical record, we can see that King David and Solomon had moments of wrong disposition. For Solomon, it seems that the historical record indicates that he acquired one wife beyond the number of covenants his faith dictated. The historical record alludes to his faith in God. It has something to do with acquiring a horse from Egypt and making a deal to marry the daughter of an Egyptian. The simple point is that soldiers are followers and leaders. This is also true of politicians and quite possibly, this is seen in the story of some historical leaders who, in spite of their absolute sovereignty in their socio-political realm, were also followers. - - Politicians are sometimes scapegoats for economic phenomena and certain social issues such as drug use or youth unrest for which they are not directly responsible. As scape goats or national pinatas ( See Fahrenheit 911 for example),  they may witness public criticism that is certainly unfair since they might not have had any personal experience with glue sniffing or selling glue for that purpose. So, how is it their fault? Presidents are not national pinatas.  It's just the nature of politics quite possibly and it may start in schools when everyone wants to blame the High School's athletic director for failing to approve new bleachers.  But, the school who won the tournament had the oldest bleachers in that locale. It had nothing to do with the athletic director's decisions with respect to bleachers. Woodrow Wilson outlined 14 political points that helped to shape the world and direction after World War 1. War is not necessary if you can find a rational person on the other side of the bargaining table who can appreciate that if people are to co-exist, every discussion is based on rules to ensure common goals are safeguarded; that peace is safeguarded. The absence of such rules is the sum of all fears. Politicians are seen as figures to be held responsible for the inexplicable emotions of others as if politicians are pinatas like the school athletic director or a pinata like a hockey coach. But, politicians are leaders and followers although they may be used by some as emotional outlets of frustration.  Presidents in any country (including Chile or Russia) are not pinatas.  This is seen in some documentaries that depicted citizens of various countries burning effigies of George Bush as if he was a pinata. He is just a leader and a follower as a politician; not to be treated as a pinata like the high school athletic director. But, every politician is berated at sometime. It is just a factor of the arena in which they have chosen to serve as leaders and followers. There was a horrible music video about riding Bam Bam. It was unbelievable.  At any rate, in spite of the purile anger of the followers of Lord Humungous, the politician will martial the peace-loving to achieve the best rules-based result for the betterment of civil society on a micro and macro socio-political and economic level. Woodrow wilson's 14 points appear below. Woodrow Wilson's 14 points __________________________ __________________________ 1.Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view. 2.Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants. 3.The removal, of all economic barriers and the establishment of equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance. 4.Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety. 5.A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined. 6.The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest cooperation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent determination of her own political development and national policy and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions of her own choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs as distinguished from their own interests, and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy. 7.Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other free nations. No other single act will serve as this will serve to restore confidence among the nations in the laws which they have themselves set and determined for the government of their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole structure and validity of international law is forever impaired. 8.All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interest of all. 9.A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognizable lines of nationality. 10.The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development. 11.Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated; occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea; and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality; and international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into. 12.The Turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees. 13.An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenant. 14.A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.