Wishing for Winston

In economic turmoil, U.S. needs a leader like Churchill - CNN.com

Gergen is one of those guys they love to put in the media as a "moderate" -- like NPR and the NYT, he is pretty much floating out there between "the left" and "the far left", or in terms of the MSM, "moderate".

It is laughable to look at someone like that pining away for Winston Churchill ... he may as well pine away for Margaret Thatcher or Ronald Reagan. They aren't coming back either -- nor would he really want them to. The problem is that the left doesn't really want a "leader" nearly so much as they want a Dictator. They want "someone that fixes all the problems" ... so they won't have to. Their idea of "a difficult decision" is just how much of someone else's income and wealth should be confiscated so that their economically disastrous programs can be continued.

Winston was indeed a leader. He led Brittan to win the war, and when he wanted them to pull up their socks and get back to the business of being a world power, they promptly threw him out of office. They also didn't much like what he had to say when other voices like Chamberlin were out there talking of "peace in our time".

Winston once said that the American people would do the right thing once al other options had been exhausted. Unfortunately, I'm afraid that is human nature and true of all of us and thus all democracies. As long as there is someone out there selling the snake oil of "hope and change", or "peace", or "strength through disarmament", or "improving the economy by borrowing", or "leading from behind", or countless other nostrums that may sound good for a season, many will be buying. Maxim's like "work and study hard, be responsible, be a maker not a taker, worry about doing good and you won't have to worry about who to blame ..." and thousands of others don't sound as slick. In fact, they sound "hard" ... the only minor difference is that they actually work, where wishful thinking is just as wishful as it ever was.

It's the principles stupid!! The great leaders are only great leaders because at the time they come along ... or maybe come along again, as in Winston's case, the people are ready to follow the principles they embody. We don't need Winston, we don't need Reagan -- we need to get back to the timeless principles that both of them embodied as leaders.