Jim Rogers offered up a great quote on the Greek debt crisis and the nature of politicians in his latest Bloomberg interview.
When asked about the effects of credit default swaps (CDS) and speculators on Greece's debt problems, Rogers replied that speculators were simply reacting to what the Greeks have done to their own finances and that, "Politicians don't normally understand how the world works; that's why they're politicians".
As we've discussed before, it is always expedient for politicians to lie and point fingers at others to distract from problems and crises of their own making. Which brings me to this line of thought: what type of behavior and leadership can we expect from true statesmen, as opposed to their more opportunistic colleague, the politician?
I turned to Google for a quick survey of opinion on this topic and found this quote at Wikipedia:
"A politician thinks about the next elections — the statesman thinks about the next generations." - James Freeman Clarke
What would our country be like if we demanded and rewarded statesmanship from our political representatives, rather than pandering and opportunism? If you'd like to consider this issue, please see the posts included below or share your thoughts with us here.
Related articles and posts:
1. Difference Between Politicians and Statesmen - Laughing Wolf.
2. Comparison: Statesman and Politician - Daily Paul.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
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3 comments:
What would our country be like? It may be too late to find out -- I'm not sure we'll ever know anymore.
It really seems like a civilization in rapid decline over the past decade. I hope we get our act together as a country and rediscover the principles this country was founded on; principally, liberty.
Well, glad to see there's at least one person that feels the same way I do. Sometimes I feel like it isn't really a bad thing that I'm getting older -- less time that I have to watch things go into the dumper.
Let's hope we can avoid the big flush.
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