Wingnuts cite the business model of leadership. That isn't mostly what politics is about.
They constantly gripe about how Dems in government have "never run a business yak yak" or how the President "leads from behind."
Something about this irritates, when something is fallacious or doesn't ring true.
Bear with me:
I watch some of those house-flipping programs about different combinations of people (relatives, friends) going into business together and having their differing personalities and levels of commitment resulting in stresses and strains. One program in particular is a continuous train wreck, with this one owner of the business and his six or so non-relative employees. It's a total my-way-or-the-highway operation, and the owner respects NO boundaries, like all personal and employment issues are completely mixed into everything, the owner treating everybody like his personal slaves, throwing hissy fits constantly laced with lavish gifts of vehicles occasionally. All the dressings down take place in front of everybody, repeating, my-way-or-the-highway.
In contrast (I thought), there's a radio talk dude who deals out financial advice, which seems impressive for the first month you listen to him, after which you figure out that he is not saying anything revolutionary, basically just preaching (literally, with a Jeebus tinge to him) living within your means, nothing on credit. But one of his themes is "Leadership," and how he learned his life lessons through personal screw-ups then arriving at what everybody knows, the Golden Rule, and he is constantly reading Great Quotations. As I say, after the first month (a few years ago), I figured out that this dude is just saying what my parents did, do without unless you can pay for it. But anyway, he has built up this big franchise and has Leadership courses and stuff, and frequently pats himself on the back on how he runs his business, how he screens employees, how he lays out clear expectations, how he (kindly) terminates those who don't fit productively or by his mission.
Today it struck me that this 2nd dude sounds different in his Leadership from the first one, but at bottom it's the same: My Way or the Highway. And this is a whole lot easier way to be a "leader," when you only deal with employees who are totally dependent on your every whim. The two dudes have just got different personalities and degrees of smoothness.
And political leadership is totally different, dealing with all different people who can choose to ignore you or to revile you. (This is not a completed topic for me, help me out. It has implications for answering Rethug fallacies.)
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