BANANA REPUBLIC AND THE FACE OF IT.

Agreeing to the precept that humans are fallible, imperfect and prone to making mistakes, especially when it comes to power, it stands to reason that confiding in a system that is made up of humans wielding power is totally absurd. Common sense, right? Not so fast.

?Written by: Hussein Waiyaki

Edited and Reviewed by: Tex W.

"Common sense ain't so common," Will Rogers once observed.

Even if it goes against common sense, the golden rule, and the non-aggression principle, people are unlikely to question a system they've been indoctrinated into adopting.

People are more prone to believe what they have been programmed to believe. Whether it's a political or religious belief, or a combination of the two.?Overcoming this requires a special flavor of bravery that isn't readily available in the average person.

It's the kind of bravery that is birthed from a lot of psychological agony and suffering, usually at the cost of losing one's innocence. It must be nurtured and nourished on a daily basis, otherwise it will revert to apathy or to ineffective and obsolete styles of courage.

It requires a distinct and daring type of leadership: leadership that audaciously checks and balances power structures while also teaching others how to do it.

A leadership that begins with overcoming false truths. It is the responsibility of the maverick to question the beliefs that he has been taught: beliefs deemed invalid by respect to the Cosmic Law.

It is his unequivocal moral compass that will guide him into the proverbial Canaan: a Canaan built on the premise of discarding false truths ingrained in him by his teacher/leader. He must remember that at the end of the day, no matter how wise or enlightened these teachers/leaders seem to be, they are still swayed by the same irrational emotions deeply rooted in the average man.

Even the brightest and most educated among them are subject to power's intoxicating allure.

"Nearly all men can withstand adversity," observed Abraham Lincoln, "but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

By brutally questioning established authority, this leadership therefore, dismantles the shackles of established authority.

What emerges is a self-assured authority, defiant and questioning the entire concept of authority in order to get to the bottom of the problems at hand. It dares to dissect concepts like "taken for granted" and "it's just the way things are," exposing the stagnant and rotting guts that are deteriorating on the inside and pressing others to replace them with the proactive and daring guts of progressive evolution.

By exposing intellectual laziness and system apathy as unhealthy means to a corrupt aim, this leadership kick-starts the passive citizen. It discloses the soft slave's secret chains of the current society showing the deeply rooted false truths of it.

To establish a new kind of leadership, we must first dismantle the many assumptions that underpin our current democratic and non-democratic societies. We must extract the lessons from the pain and destruction and incorporate them into a new system based on a mindset that values life and prioritizes the planet and all of its people. Democracy is considered to be the most 'evolved' type of modern government. It was established with the goal of giving people a voice, defending their rights, and providing equality under the law. It arose in opposition to other kinds of government such as monarchy, dictatorships, and oligarchies, in which individuals or a small group of people have total authority.

But history has shown us , time and again, that the current form of leadership has become contaminated by the same dynamic of? Abusive Power, oppressions, police brutality and worst of all, rampant corruption. This current type of leadership in the country was formed with the hopes of giving people a political voice and a chance to see how we use the power that comes with it. Being granted a voice and a vote, however, is not enough to ensure that we use them to make the world a more just and healthy place.

While democracy was created to correct many of the flaws of previous systems, it was still based on the same separatist and domineering worldview.

It is no wonder that lies have become ingrained in society's culture and a vital organizing element. To sell power and profit agendas, a sophisticated system of deception and information manipulation is used. The way "democratic values" are abused in the election campaign industry and the purchase of people's votes and legislators' allegiances are examples of deception at every level of democratic institutions.

Honesty has almost vanished from our common expectations, from false political pledges and corrupt dealings to an economy driven by cheap populist approaches.

We are sold the idea that using one's intelligence to manipulate a system founded on exploiting humans and the environment is not only legitimate, but also admirable and a sign of success.

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