Some thoughts about voting this week

Most everyone I know here in the US is voting this week. And while I think participation in the voting process is a crucial duty in a free society, I also think that most people do it wrong and would like to urge
you to consider how you pick your candidates and initiative positions.

A lot of people seem obssessed with setting up a hierarchy of some kind, roughly broken down into people in charge, in varying degrees, and people who should just do what they're told and not complain. I think this ties in in a horrid way with the fact that people don't think very clearly about the distinction between leadership and management.

Leadership is about showing people the way forward and letting them choose for themselves. Management is about making people do what you think is best for them and for society as a whole. And people elected into
office as managers typically exclude themselves from the rules that they enact into law. Leadership is awkward and inefficient but is the way forward in a free society. Managing people is efficient but stifles
freedom.

Unfortunately, I believe that most people who are voting are, consciously or unconsciously, voting to elect a strong manager rather than a leader. Maybe they are frightened by the media and their constant panics and alarums (Ebola! Gun violence! Abortion! Gay people subverting family values! Drugs!). Maybe they fancy themselves smarter and wiser than their fellow citizens and want them managed in a sensible fashion. In any case, I would argue strongly that these partisan voters, party line Democrats and Republicans, are
what are dragging us deeper and deeper into idiocy every year.

Please vote but only for real leaders. And where initiatives are concerned, don't vote to "show those people I don't like who's boss". We've had enough petty vindictiveness, thank you very much.