Throughout history, few great leaders have ascended to power and fundamentally transformed their nations. The irony is that these great leaders did not change the peoples in their charge from ignorant, unproductive, and cowardly masses into an intelligent, vigorous, and virtuous citizenry. Rather they presided over the death knells of once civilized societies collapsing into tumult and ignominy.
Once a nation demands to be fundamentally transformed by a great leader it is already far beyond hope. Once a charismatic leader can manipulate a population beyond the norms or laws of a people, the people are already lost. This is because a great nation cannot be defined by a great leader, but only by the great people who inhabit it. Truly great people drive the economy, lead the military, and teach the people honestly and accurately about the cultural legacy of their forefathers.
If a charismatic leader comes to power and accrues all glory in the nation for the successes of the people, while shirking all blame for the nation's failures, and the people still adore him, the nation is doomed. For this is a nation that has lost its pride, its competitiveness, its rugged individualistic spirit. A demoralized people look to the great leader to save them from themselves, out of some sense of desperation or guilt, and they crave redemption - whether it be in the eyes of a national or a global audience.
But the transformative political figure of world history cannot just arrive on the scene from the actor's gallery like a deus ex machina, solving the problems of a people. The destiny of a nation can be found in the errors and misdeeds of previous generations. The positive great leader in history is very rarely a "transformative" figure, he is a reflection of the people; he is not only the leader that the people "deserve," but the one that they have selected for themselves. Winston Churchill was a great leader not because he was "above" the British people during World War II, but because he stood with them; one might say his steel and resolve was iconic of the British people. Metaphorically, one might say he was the British people.
The transformative figure, on the other hand, is nearly always the deliverer of doom to a failed people; his actions to save a people from themselves inevitably results in chaos, increasing tyranny, oppression, and if any proud people remain (be they even three percent), civil war.
For example, Peter the Great is often held aloft as a transformative figure in Russian history, But for all his European-style modernization, he was still a despot when all was said and done. Catherine the Great was little better. Though being friends with men of the Enlightenment like Denis Diderot, the rise of the truly transformative figure Napoleon Bonaparte shocked the lady of Holstein-Gottorp back to her monarchic sensibilities.
Whether it be Attila the Hun transforming the Eurasian map, one will find Gothic tribes fleeing to a crumbling Rome; if one in turn considers the sack of Rome by Alaric the Visigoth in 410 AD, one will find a demoralized empire from rampant corruption by elites. The key thing to remember is that the transformative political figures of world history tend nearly always to be those who deliver doom to an already failed people.
The notable exception to this rule are the founding fathers of the United States. A small minority of the British colonies of America, these men fought to lift themselves out of oppression and tyranny, and founded a political order that would provide the environment where men would have every opportunity to be great, if they so chose. The Constitution they enshrined put people's lives in their own hands under the condition of liberty; it also put considerable political power in the hands of states and small communities, so men to a great degree could solve their own problems.
Thus when one thinks of the transformative figures of American history, one cannot fail to think of men like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington. But one must recall that even as George Washington was offered the presidency for a third term, he famously deferred; this was as if to say that the people themselves were the only ones who could decide if they were to remain free.
So - two hundred years later we are graced with the presidency of one who prior to his election declared, pompously, that "we are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America."
The United States of America. The first nation in world history to enshrine liberty as a mandate. The nation that adopted a Constitution that vowed to eradicate the importation of slavery in two generations' time. The United States that experienced one of the bloodiest wars in world history largely over the issue of freedom for slaves. The United States that helped win World War I, granted women's suffrage, played a role in defeating the Nazis and the Japanese, and freed every major nation it occupied during wartime. The United States that faced down a bloody imperialistic police state for nearly half a century, accelerating its implosion. The United States that became the most prosperous, most generous, most righteous force for humanity in world history. The United States that shed blood but asked for no oil in the wars following the acts of September 11th. That United States.
The presumptuous newcomer to the world stage and the American political scene may truly believe himself to be a transformative figure; but his ego is vastly out of proportion to his sense of history if this is to be the case. As he continues to delude himself that he is a historical figure who should be imbued with dictatorial powers to undo the problems that government itself largely created, he will find that he is wielding a sledgehammer to swat 300 million flies. Each action by government will be too late, too strong, or too expensive, and thus government will unleash more anxiety, more unforeseen consequences, and will do more damage. The president will ask for trillions in funds for more programs to allay the masses, but he will do nothing but further dislocate the economy and eventually, collapse it.
Obama surely sees himself as America's first truly transformative figure. Let us do our utmost not only to survive him, but to reverse America's course toward greatness by re-establishing liberty as its guiding precept. Then it will be left up to our children to decide if they are to be great.
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