Power Requires Wisdom

We don't need no stinking politician to right our ship of state, we need a Leader who understands that Power requires Wisdom.

Power Requires Wisdom
Nuclear power, the power of authority, the power of medicines, knowledge, religion, and basically all tools and skills and toys that we utilize to live our lives, even the power that food provides, require us to be judicious in their use. Einstein's quote, “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our Humanity,” is so prescient because the development of the nuclear bomb that occurred at Los Alamos National Laboratory brought a new level of power, but not the wisdom to truly understand what we were unleashing onto the world. Will our Humanity be able to catch up to our technology? It will only when we learn that without Wisdom, we cannot Control Power. Power and energy are irrational. Fire is irrational. The weather is irrational. We can somewhat understand how they work and utilize their energies, but we cannot always control them. Wisdom tells us that Control is also a tool to be used judiciously, responsibly, thoughtfully, patiently, respectfully – Wisely. It can be used to Rationalize the Irrational, but only to an extent. Wisdom tells us to Know Our Limits. We are Limited in our ability to Control Nature's Powers. We are also Limited in our ability to Control other forms of Power, like Social, Economic, Political Power, Sexual Power, Psychological Power, Personal Powers that we wield ourselves, Powers that can easily become Irrational. We must recognize our Limits in Controlling these Powers. And in doing this, we must be wary of any ideology or theory that depends on the already economically Powerful to lift the less powerful up with their Power and Leadership, because these theories always assume that the Leaders will act Rationally, or according to certain “natural laws” that connect Labor with Property Rights and Currency with Nature's delicate balance. Wisdom tells us that the Laws of Nature have nothing to do with the systems of humans, such as monetary, social, political, religious systems, which are all based on inanimate ideas about Value and Ownership and God, that do not exist in Nature. Wisdom also tells us that humans are not particularly good at knowing our Limits, and we tend to lose Control much more readily than we like to admit. And Wisdom reminds us that there are Limits to our Knowledge as well, and that it is good to understand those Limits and to recognize that sometimes Knowledge does not bring us any closer to the Truth.

I believe that Barack Obama is much more than just a slick politician.
I believe that he is a wise man and a true Leader, someone who will respect the limits of his office, and will encourage the changes in our political system that we desperately need if this nation is to recover from the damage that has occurred during the past eight years. I believe that the "change" that he talks about is much more than a just political shift, a port tack, to continue the nautical metaphor. Obama's change is to maneuver the ship in a completely different direction, to take a different course toward our national goals that depends more on currents and having the wind behind our backs than in wearing down the crew at the oars.
He has proven that he is able to overcome all the nastiness that our politics generate. He is able to communicate clearly, to unite, to inspire.
Barack Obama understands the Constitution. He understands how the legislature works. He understands how politics work. He understands how communities work. He understands how technology works. He understands how the English language works. He understands how bigotry and ignorance work. He understands how Leadership works.
And I think he understands that if power is not controlled wisely, then the ship will loose its rudder and become a directionless hull in a dangerous sea.