The Politics of Personality
- M.J.Schwer
- Oct 21, 2020
- 4 min read
“People with good intentions make promises. But people with good character keep them.”
— Anonymous
Excerpt from my new release "Killing Character" The Decline of Vales and Ethics in America (Part One)
Political scandal has always been a part of U.S political history - the politics of personality, with its character flaws and deception, are as much as our history as the great American events that have inspired and nurtured courage. Take for instance The Crédit Mobilier Scandal (1872). Crédit Mobilier, the company hired to build the Union Pacific Railroad, used its stock to bribe top officials in President Ulysses S. Grant’s administration — including the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, and other members of Congress — to secure federal support to build a transcontinental railroad. lxi Teapot Dome (1921-1923), President Warren G. Harding’s Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall secretly accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in Liberty Bonds in exchange for leasing former Navy oil reserves in Wyoming known as Teapot Dome to a private company. He became the first Cabinet secretary to go to prison because of his actions on the job. The entire administration crumbled in his first term, right out of the gate, it infected his entire close friend group and Harding became synonymous with cronyism and corruption. Scrutiny into Harding’s personal life led to the discovery that he had a mistress. [The scandal] puts so much pressure on President Harding that he died in office of a heart attack. lxii Watergate (1972-1974), Tapes revealed that President Richard Nixon and his top advisors were involved in covering up a break-in at a Democratic National Committee office in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Nixon resigned before he could be impeached, becoming the first President to step down. Several of his top advisors — including the White House lawyer, Chief of Staff, and Attorney General — did prison time.
These are just some of the myriad examples of deception and the lack of integrity of leaders and politicians. To create a list of political, religious, corporate C.E.Os., founders, and organizations would require a book. We, sadly, live in a world in which you cannot trust other people to do what they say they will do. That is because we, as a society, do not value trustworthiness. Instead, we admire beauty, charisma, and financial success.
America no longer votes for people for political office because they are trustworthy. America votes for them because they are charismatic. Or they lead us to believe that their point of view matches our own on a multitude of issues from race to the economy to refugees. But we do not vote for people because they are honorable and moral.
In no other time like the present has charisma and personality become the “sum persona” and standard for leadership
Focusing on Charisma is a terrible idea! This is today’s trend and has been since 2008. First, politicians are now packaging themselves as Instagram-ready personal brands. And second, people in more individualistic cultures value leaders’ charisma more, and America is becoming increasingly individualistic. This means that charisma, rather than performance, may play an increasing role in how leaders are evaluated.
Dr. Jessica Flanigan is the Richard L. Morrill Chair in Ethics and Democratic Values at the University of Richmond, where she teaches Leadership Ethics, Ethical Decision Making in Healthcare, and Critical Thinking, makes a critical observation, “I believe that following charisma is a mistake because charisma has very little to do with the things that voters should care about when choosing political leaders, like their character and ability to govern.” I must completely agree with her. Ultimately Cha
risma distracts the populous from what matters - what is the character of the leader, for on
ce the shine and polish fade and crisis and uncertainty hit; it is the character, ethics, and values of the leader that will sustain a country.
When voters give their support based primarily on a candidate’s charis
ma, their support is not based on the
relevant reasons. Citizens who end up supporting le
aders based on charisma choose recklessly without considering the reasons. And it not only may fail to serve their interests in the end but following based on charisma can also harm other people…just ask the Jewish people about the Holocaust.
I fear for the current and upcoming generations. Based on my observations and what is the utter lack of critical thinking in our educational institutions, today’s generations are feed a constant video news stream of biased journalism and socialistic inspired journalism in America. With the complete failure of intermediate and higher education institutions teaching on critical thinking skills, morality, and the embracing of secular humanism - it may be possible that the “leap” over the precipice of ignorance and self-interest may be irreversible. These forthcoming generations may be lead like sheep to the slaughter of democracy within their nation due to the dumbing down of the populous - and I believe this is of design.
It is this writers aim to issue an imminent warning: We have entered an era of dan
gerous quicksand constructed of charisma and charm, wolves in our country disguised in sheep's clothing whose purpose is to infiltrate and transform a nation by its influence - through education and the media, as well as political representation, to propagate their agenda. If you don’t believe it is possible here in America (which is what…just over 200 years old) than look to Europe, look at the transformation that has happened to a continent whose history is much more extensive and rich.
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