Her Lao
2014-08-28 23:35:05 UTC
http://news.yahoo.com/turkeys-erdogan-sworn-president-112731325.html
When someone shifts from the "prime minister" to the "president" and back and forth, putting his lieutenant(s) in charge of the other office he's just recently vacated --- whether due to term limits or because he wants to jump between the two most senior posts in the government, as he sees fit, with the just-vacated position being subordinated to the present one, like Mr. Putin and Mr. Erdogen of Turkey are doing --- you know they are aspiring to be long term dictators.
The dictatorship in Israel is a slightly different dictatorship: Israel is a very small country, population and land mass, so the top 2-4 men and women usually rotate being the prime minister until they die. They may come from different parties or the same; but they will go in and out of the PM's office until, again, they drop dead and are replaced by their protégés, to repeat the same cycles...
Since the United States, which started only in the late 1700s, is the oldest democracy so let's take a brief look at how it bestows power on the alpha male, the president:
From the first president, George Washington --- who, by the way, WAS ENCOURAGED to become a KING, like England's King George whom he's just defeated, for America's independence but who REFUSED to become king, saying he'd only serve one or two terms and then retired to return to his farm and slaves again ---- to the current one, Barack Hussein Obama, more or less every one served no more than 1 to 2 terms; and then the people go tired of them.
The only major exception, and it was a major aberration, was the great socialist Franklin Delano Roosevelt... who started socialist programs like Social Security and other anti-American programs like that. FDR, as he's better known, was elected FOUR TIMES. Until FDR, again, people just got tired after the alpha male after ONE or TWO TERMS; and they just didn't elect them again.... so there was no explicit amendment in the CONSITUTION prohibiting a current president from serving more than two terms, 4 year each term.
But AFTER FDR, people and law makers alike FELT that allow ONE MAN to occupy the PRESIDENCY more than 8 years IS TOO TEMPTING for them to go off reservation and starting thinking of themselves as a GIFT FROM HEAVENS or from THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE... and they start filling the various powerful positions in government with their own families and friends and business associates and close colleagues...
And that is the CORRECT VIEW.
It doesn't matter how popular, or unpopular, someone is ... if they occupy a position in society for too long, corruption, nepotism, and outright power usurpation arise.
(Of course, it goes without saying, if you're NOT POPULAR AT ALL, or hated, then you limit your own presidency to just ONE term, or less... corruption could get you impeached and then removed from DAY ONE to the last day of your term, so it's only really very popular presidents like FDR or George Washington, that the American electorate takes pains to safeguard AGAINST, by NOT ALLOWING any one to have more than TWO CONSECUTIVE TERMS, after FDR, through legal proscription...)
The reason the United States of America has the LONGEST TRACK RECORD of transferring power from one leader to another, TOTALLY PEACEFULLY (without any coup or bullet flying).... is that BOTH the people, "the governed," and the governor (the president), AGREE both implicitly AND explicitly that given that the PRESIDENCY is such a singularly powerful position, it SHOULD NEVER BE AT THE HANDS of ONE MAN for too many years. It's the only way to GUARD AGAINST nepotism of the various kinds.
I believe people like Putin and Erdogen WILL VERY LIKELY RUIN their respective society, because they are not only power-hungry; every politician and aspiring politician is power-hungry.
With people like Putin and Erdogen... they are more than just power-hungry; they are outright dictators WHO THINK THEIR PEOPLE, as well as their country, CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT THEM..."Look at all the big achievements I've brought on, I've given you! With OTHERS, none of this great achievement would have been possible; THEREFORE, you can't have others and I WON'T ALLOW IT!".... and so they must do whatever they think necessary --- shifting from post to another, changing the constitution, making it illegal for others to compete or criticize them, etc --- to occupy the government at the very top posts, for as long as they are able to hold on to it.
Again, THAT MIND SET is usually the mind-set of a dictator.
Problem with that kind of thinking and mind-set is, OTHERS see you do it, and when you are gone, OTHERS TOO WILL LIKELY EMULATE IT and so the SOCIETY creates a CULTURE of perpetual CYCLES of dictators and dictatorship, of one leader thinking he is indispensable and must rule until death, EACH CLAIMING theirs is the most righteous, most glorious, and most benevolent....
When someone shifts from the "prime minister" to the "president" and back and forth, putting his lieutenant(s) in charge of the other office he's just recently vacated --- whether due to term limits or because he wants to jump between the two most senior posts in the government, as he sees fit, with the just-vacated position being subordinated to the present one, like Mr. Putin and Mr. Erdogen of Turkey are doing --- you know they are aspiring to be long term dictators.
The dictatorship in Israel is a slightly different dictatorship: Israel is a very small country, population and land mass, so the top 2-4 men and women usually rotate being the prime minister until they die. They may come from different parties or the same; but they will go in and out of the PM's office until, again, they drop dead and are replaced by their protégés, to repeat the same cycles...
Since the United States, which started only in the late 1700s, is the oldest democracy so let's take a brief look at how it bestows power on the alpha male, the president:
From the first president, George Washington --- who, by the way, WAS ENCOURAGED to become a KING, like England's King George whom he's just defeated, for America's independence but who REFUSED to become king, saying he'd only serve one or two terms and then retired to return to his farm and slaves again ---- to the current one, Barack Hussein Obama, more or less every one served no more than 1 to 2 terms; and then the people go tired of them.
The only major exception, and it was a major aberration, was the great socialist Franklin Delano Roosevelt... who started socialist programs like Social Security and other anti-American programs like that. FDR, as he's better known, was elected FOUR TIMES. Until FDR, again, people just got tired after the alpha male after ONE or TWO TERMS; and they just didn't elect them again.... so there was no explicit amendment in the CONSITUTION prohibiting a current president from serving more than two terms, 4 year each term.
But AFTER FDR, people and law makers alike FELT that allow ONE MAN to occupy the PRESIDENCY more than 8 years IS TOO TEMPTING for them to go off reservation and starting thinking of themselves as a GIFT FROM HEAVENS or from THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE... and they start filling the various powerful positions in government with their own families and friends and business associates and close colleagues...
And that is the CORRECT VIEW.
It doesn't matter how popular, or unpopular, someone is ... if they occupy a position in society for too long, corruption, nepotism, and outright power usurpation arise.
(Of course, it goes without saying, if you're NOT POPULAR AT ALL, or hated, then you limit your own presidency to just ONE term, or less... corruption could get you impeached and then removed from DAY ONE to the last day of your term, so it's only really very popular presidents like FDR or George Washington, that the American electorate takes pains to safeguard AGAINST, by NOT ALLOWING any one to have more than TWO CONSECUTIVE TERMS, after FDR, through legal proscription...)
The reason the United States of America has the LONGEST TRACK RECORD of transferring power from one leader to another, TOTALLY PEACEFULLY (without any coup or bullet flying).... is that BOTH the people, "the governed," and the governor (the president), AGREE both implicitly AND explicitly that given that the PRESIDENCY is such a singularly powerful position, it SHOULD NEVER BE AT THE HANDS of ONE MAN for too many years. It's the only way to GUARD AGAINST nepotism of the various kinds.
I believe people like Putin and Erdogen WILL VERY LIKELY RUIN their respective society, because they are not only power-hungry; every politician and aspiring politician is power-hungry.
With people like Putin and Erdogen... they are more than just power-hungry; they are outright dictators WHO THINK THEIR PEOPLE, as well as their country, CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT THEM..."Look at all the big achievements I've brought on, I've given you! With OTHERS, none of this great achievement would have been possible; THEREFORE, you can't have others and I WON'T ALLOW IT!".... and so they must do whatever they think necessary --- shifting from post to another, changing the constitution, making it illegal for others to compete or criticize them, etc --- to occupy the government at the very top posts, for as long as they are able to hold on to it.
Again, THAT MIND SET is usually the mind-set of a dictator.
Problem with that kind of thinking and mind-set is, OTHERS see you do it, and when you are gone, OTHERS TOO WILL LIKELY EMULATE IT and so the SOCIETY creates a CULTURE of perpetual CYCLES of dictators and dictatorship, of one leader thinking he is indispensable and must rule until death, EACH CLAIMING theirs is the most righteous, most glorious, and most benevolent....