The fixation of most political systems on a Great Leader who can, knows and understands everything and is supposed to rule forever is frighteningly reminiscent of the naive loyalty to the king of our great-grandfathers in the 19th century. This seems grotesque and dangerous.
New politics need a competent, creative and committed team, not a substitute king whom we pay homage to as subjects.
We do not need a new leader, but a strong, broadly based team of movers and shakers featuring different talents complementing each other.
Leader cults are poison for opinion-forming processes, a superfluous bottleneck strangling debate. All too often, new ideas and proposals are perceived as criticism of leaders and are therefore rejected.
New policies should avoid fixations on one leader. If he or she resigns, the movement dies.
Just like in a good circus show, we need a vibrant mixture of different talents.
Instead, we should let 1000 creative flowers bloom. We need a diverse group of individuals at the top capable of di- scussing important issues intelligently and of drawing necessary conclusions for determined action. Leader cults emerge when individuals embed themselves at the top determined to remain in power forever. Term limitations for top officials thus appear sensible, as is the case with the American president. A limit to two terms is promoting innovative change and fresh ideas.
Proposals:
- Establish and promote a broad base of different talents at all levels of political parties and governments.
- Fill each management position from a pool of the most qualified politicians. They should be qualified by previous achievements in their field of expertise.
- Each top politician acts as a mentor for several young talents who could follow him/her in office. Networking with business and innovative NGOs.
- We should therefore deliberately institutionalise a time-limit for politicians. Term limits for heads of government and ministers to two legislative periods.