Who do you admire

Zoii

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Australia s rapidly approaching a Federal Election. I want to say that most governments around the world, whether democratic, socialist or autocratic, generally run their country well.

We have a tendency to heavily criticise our political leaders but its actually a difficult job. I'd like to start a thread calling upon you to state what political leader you admire and why.

I'll start:

Hands down I believe Jacinda Ardern, PM of New Zealand to be the best leader in the world. Her country punches well above its weight in all KPIs that measure the success of a country - low crime rates, high medical standard, high %GDP. It is rated one of the safest and ethical countries in the world. But Jacinda is a leader who is inspiring, an exquisite leader capable of operationalizing her country's strategic outlook. Her role post mass shooting showed she is also warm and conciliatory and her people truly admire and love her.

I wish she was Australia's PM.
 

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Australia s rapidly approaching a Federal Election. I want to say that most governments around the world, whether democratic, socialist or autocratic, generally run their country well.

We have a tendency to heavily criticise our political leaders but its actually a difficult job. I'd like to start a thread calling upon you to state what political leader you admire and why.

I'll start:

Hands down I believe Jacinda Ardern, PM of New Zealand to be the best leader in the world. Her country punches well above its weight in all KPIs that measure the success of a country - low crime rates, high medical standard, high %GDP. It is rated one of the safest and ethical countries in the world. But Jacinda is a leader who is inspiring, an exquisite leader capable of operationalizing her country's strategic outlook. Her role post mass shooting showed she is also warm and conciliatory and her people truly admire and love her.

I wish she was Australia's PM.

I wouldn't wish she was Australia's PM, she is a socialist. In 2008, she was elected President of the International Union of Socialist Youth.
You might be mistaken, New Zealand's good social + economic conditions might be due to her precedessor - Bill English, rather than herself.
 
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Zoii

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I wouldn't wish she was Australia's PM, she is a socialist. In 2008, she was elected President of the International Union of Socialist Youth.
You might be mistaken, New Zealand's good social + economic conditions might be due to her precedessor - Bill English, rather than herself.
NZ's success is a result of a soundly working democracy regardless of who is in power -

I am lauding her personal attributes as a leader though. Its a shame you criticise her NOT because of any sign of poor leadership, but simply because she was a elected in her youth to a political group that has a paradigm you dont like.

Cant you - and others - stop the - Conservative is [insert criticism] or Left is [insert criticism] and instead embrace what this thread is about.

Just please curb the ANTI rhetoric please. Others may post who they admire and I dont want them shot down for it.
 
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Heavenhome

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What did you admire about Nick
What did you admire about Nick

I thought he came across as open and pretty honest. He didn't engage in slanging matches and stuck with issues important.

But now I admire no one in politics because though I pray for leaders, I have little interest now and focus my life on God.
 
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Zoii

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I thought he came across as open and pretty honest. He didn't engage in slanging matches and stuck with issues important.

But now I admire no one in politics because though I pray for leaders, I have little interest now and focus my life on God.
I understand your point. Ive been thinking I would like one day to be a politician. I'd like to think that if a person of an opposing political party raised a pertinent point, I would NOT be defensive and actually say - he's raised a good point and we have to manage the very real risk that he's highlighted - In other words, be honest, inclusive of failures and frailties. If its a risk, then say its a risk, and try to explain why the risk is worth taking and how you are managing it.

Perhaps one of the issues is that politicians are forced to talk using catchy 'sound grabs'. You have 20 seconds to get your point across.

I dont think about God in these matters - they are secular and its important they remain so.

But in order for us all to prosper in our country, we need leaders who lead NOT just for the now, but for the future as well. Sometimes the decisions needed to achieve that are unpopular.
 
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You dont admire anyone - thats rather sad. But please dont feel welcome to post anything ANTI though.

I am not "anti" or "pro" any politician. For myself I look at an issue and decide myself my own stance. If a politician supports it I back his/her stance, if not that I do not support their stance. For politicians that I can vote for I see them as being in office to represent not only myself but everyone else in either my country, state, county or municipality. If I like them enough they get my vote, if not then they don't get my vote. That being said I find most politician (at least at the local and state levels, depends at the Federal level) to be quite responsive to their constituents.

However, I have no issue with anyone admiring any politician, until it goes over into what I call "hero worship".
 
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All Englands Skies

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What a shame so few think positively about at least one leader.... yet if it wasnt for this cohort our society would wither. We have a debt of gratitude to those who take the burden of political leadership.

Depends though really, I think most leaders are self-serving and out of touch if I am honest and those few who are guanine seem apathetic to real struggles when the push comes to shove, no matter what part of the political spectrum they sit.

I think society owes its gratitude to the regular people more than leaders, when it comes down to it, the measure of a society is how its people act, the ordinary people make society work, not what the leaders are doing.

I can't think of any I truly admire when I think about it.

Faces in history though and in the context of elected leaders, I would say Nelson Mandela I admire.
 
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zephcom

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Australia s rapidly approaching a Federal Election. I want to say that most governments around the world, whether democratic, socialist or autocratic, generally run their country well.

We have a tendency to heavily criticise our political leaders but its actually a difficult job. I'd like to start a thread calling upon you to state what political leader you admire and why.

I'll start:

Hands down I believe Jacinda Ardern, PM of New Zealand to be the best leader in the world. Her country punches well above its weight in all KPIs that measure the success of a country - low crime rates, high medical standard, high %GDP. It is rated one of the safest and ethical countries in the world. But Jacinda is a leader who is inspiring, an exquisite leader capable of operationalizing her country's strategic outlook. Her role post mass shooting showed she is also warm and conciliatory and her people truly admire and love her.

I wish she was Australia's PM.


Now there is a tough question. History has a way of taking the shine off of political leaders. Take John Kennedy, for instance. He was...and still is...admired by a lot of people. But history has shown that he might have been more charismatic than good in the job.

After a lot of pondering, I think I would give my nod to Winston Churchhill. He lead a nation what was taking gut punches day after day from Germany in the early years of WWII and he was still able to keep his nation not only together but fighting back with everything they had. I think that takes leadership worthy of being admired.
 
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Zoii

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Depends though really, I think most leaders are self-serving and out of touch if I am honest and those few who are guanine seem apathetic to real struggles when the push comes to shove, no matter what part of the political spectrum they sit.

I think society owes its gratitude to the regular people more than leaders, when it comes down to it, the measure of a society is how its people act, the ordinary people make society work, not what the leaders are doing.

I can't think of any I truly admire when I think about it.

Faces in history though and in the context of elected leaders, I would say Nelson Mandela I admire.
Well I cant support your view that that leaders are all self serving and that they dont greatly determine society - take the basics for example - yours, and my country runs based on economic principles that are set through government at a state, national and international level. The fact you have a job, can purchase certain items and have a retirement fund, is all because your leaders have constructed an economic platform. How creative and effective they are directly effects your life.

Gandhi for example was greatly underestimated in this regard - he was thought of as a leftist pacifist - but actually he understood economics well and realised the economic burden of colonialism on India. He fostered changes that stopped importation of British and American products which was a very bold move but also very effective. Right up to the 1990s you could not buy Coca Cola (The Indian version was Thumbs Up), and all cars were made in India.

To hear you say that all UK politicians are self-serving is disappointing. In Australia I can honestly say that's not the case. I may not agree with the views of certain parties, but I believe the 95% are in it for the benefit of my country.
 
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I admire the Nordic countries. Like New Zealand, the five Nordic countries punch well above their size and weight in democracy, human rights, freedom and the rule of law. I particularly admire Finland, which has gone from one of the poorest and disadvantaged countries in Europe to one of the best human societies in the entire history of mankind in a century, basically, despite Europe's last famine, bloodiest civil war, two costly wars with the Soviet Union and the loss of the world's richest nickel mine, 1/3 of industrial capacity, Finland's fourth largest city among many other valuables.

I suppose you could say there are many, many Nordic and Finnish parliamentarians I admire for creating the Nordic welfare states -- people you've never heard about. I admire the first 19 Finnish women parliamentarians elected into the first Finnish parliament in 1907 and Jenny Upari in particular: she was 25, unmarried and pregnant at the time of her election -- the Finland's worlds's first maternity leave law saw daylight in 1907, thanks to Jenny. There was no precedent. Elsewhere, women had to wait another decade for the right to vote, let alone to get elected.

Miina Sillanpää,
the first female minister, and Lucina Hagman, women'a and children's rights activist, both elected in 1907; Minna Canth, journalist and author; Helvi Sipilä, diplomat, women's rights activist, first woman to run for President of Finland, and and first-ever female
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations; Elisabeth Rehn, first female Minister of Defence in Europe, UN special rapporteur and human rights activist; Gro Harlem Brundtland, the first female Prime Minister of Norway, head of WHO and member of The Elders;
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, first female head of state in Africa and Nobel Peace Prize laureate... To name a few. :)
 
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Quid est Veritas?

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No one who wants power should ever be allowed to wield it. Any political system where someone has to climb a greasy political pole, will end up with someone essentially dirty at the top. The best 'leader' is someone capable who has greatness thrust upon them, the Cincinnatus principle. As such, I wouldn't trust anyone who actively stood for an election and had to work their way up party machinery. There are better and worse presidents and PMs and autocrats, but I find the sleight of hand where old-fashioned idea of 'Rulers' are now termed 'Leaders' profoundly dishonest. They may be 'admirable' in one sense perhaps, but they certainly all hide skeletons in their closets.
 
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All Englands Skies

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Well I cant support your view that that leaders are all self serving and that they dont greatly determine society - take the basics for example - yours, and my country runs based on economic principles that are set through government at a state, national and international level. The fact you have a job, can purchase certain items and have a retirement fund, is all because your leaders have constructed an economic platform. How creative and effective they are directly effects your life.

Gandhi for example was greatly underestimated in this regard - he was thought of as a leftist pacifist - but actually he understood economics well and realised the economic burden of colonialism on India. He fostered changes that stopped importation of British and American products which was a very bold move but also very effective. Right up to the 1990s you could not buy Coca Cola (The Indian version was Thumbs Up), and all cars were made in India.

To hear you say that all UK politicians are self-serving is disappointing. In Australia I can honestly say that's not the case. I may not agree with the views of certain parties, but I believe the 95% are in it for the benefit of my country.

Maybe my background makes me somewhat jaded, growing up people at the bottom of society always seem to have to scrat for everything and still do.

Maybe in the middle class communities they see more to believe in.

I mean, I have progressed in my life and have more money now than I ever did, but I still think the whole system is rotten and that simply having more wealth somehow gets more respect from people, when the respect was never there when I had nothing.

I see the political class as part of "them" to be honest.

I admit that our society is better than others though, so our political class isn't as bad as others around the world. My Mother grew up in Kosovo back when it was part of Yugoslavia before emigrating to the UK in the late 1970s, when she talks about it, its a proper paradox, she thinks back with both fondness and distain at the same time, that being said, my Dad was born and raised in the UK and his life growing up in the 1960s didn't seem that much better in terms of quality of life.
 
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Australia s rapidly approaching a Federal Election. I want to say that most governments around the world, whether democratic, socialist or autocratic, generally run their country well.

We have a tendency to heavily criticise our political leaders but its actually a difficult job. I'd like to start a thread calling upon you to state what political leader you admire and why.

I'll start:

Hands down I believe Jacinda Ardern, PM of New Zealand to be the best leader in the world. Her country punches well above its weight in all KPIs that measure the success of a country - low crime rates, high medical standard, high %GDP. It is rated one of the safest and ethical countries in the world. But Jacinda is a leader who is inspiring, an exquisite leader capable of operationalizing her country's strategic outlook. Her role post mass shooting showed she is also warm and conciliatory and her people truly admire and love her.

I wish she was Australia's PM.

I admire leaders that move their countries in a Christian direction or Mark great victories over darkness. Margaret Thatcher, Churchill, Ronald Reagan would all be examples and going back in time people like Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Justinian, Constantine, Gladstone...

The NZ PM is a worldly choice. The woman is an atheist who has used the gifts she acquired in a Christian context to articulate the feelings of her people in tragedies such as Christchurch. She is not leading NZ in a godly direction.
 
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mindlight

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Well I cant support your view that that leaders are all self serving and that they dont greatly determine society - take the basics for example - yours, and my country runs based on economic principles that are set through government at a state, national and international level. The fact you have a job, can purchase certain items and have a retirement fund, is all because your leaders have constructed an economic platform. How creative and effective they are directly effects your life.

Gandhi for example was greatly underestimated in this regard - he was thought of as a leftist pacifist - but actually he understood economics well and realised the economic burden of colonialism on India. He fostered changes that stopped importation of British and American products which was a very bold move but also very effective. Right up to the 1990s you could not buy Coca Cola (The Indian version was Thumbs Up), and all cars were made in India.

To hear you say that all UK politicians are self-serving is disappointing. In Australia I can honestly say that's not the case. I may not agree with the views of certain parties, but I believe the 95% are in it for the benefit of my country.

My family were there in India when Ghandi was doing his thing. He was not a perfect man and I know you would not approve of wife beating for example. But he played the game of images far better than London did and in public he acted more Christlike than most British Christians undermining the fundamental tenant of empire that we had the right to rule those who subscribed to false religion cause we brought Christianity and civilisation to them. Having fought a war for freedom against oppression the time was right for him also.

I can admire his political skills and freedom agenda while rejecting his religion as false and oppressive to millions of people in India.
 
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