great leaders, who are your favorites? - Page 5

before licoln there was a group of states that had a loose joint government. after licoln ther was a United States of America, which went on to be the standard for democratic capitalism, and gave the world a whole new level of material standard of living.

without licoln, we might have 4 or 5 small nations in the territory that is today the United States. it is hard to say what would have happened in the 20th century conflict in europe and asia.

Some that I don't think have been mentioned yet: Elizabeth I Nelson Frederick II of Prussia George Marshall Augustus are among my personal favorites. I don't know much about Chinese history, but from what I know, Emperor Gaozu would also be on my list. EDIT: I just realized nobody had mentioned him yet, so I have to add: Mohammed. In fact, you could argue that he is THE world's greatest leader. His combination of secular and religious leadership, still so influential so many centuries after his death, is incredible. The man went from nothing to becoming the political leader of all of southern Arabia, and he was the driving force behind all the Arab conquests. It's not just faith that unites countries from Morocco to Iraq; it's language and culture, too, and that all began with him. And although Christians outnumber Muslims, I'd argue that Mohammed himself played a much larger role in developing Islam--the theology, the ethical/moral principals, and proselytizing/disseminating the new faith--than Jesus did in developing Christianity. Huh. I kind of just realized all that as I was writing it, so sorry if it comes across as kind of annoying.

Francois Mitterand, in all his corrupt, sinister glory.
de Gaulle
Chirac, but only his puppet on Les Guignols de l'Info.

I think I read somewhere that Napoleon, Alexander and Hitler were all afraid of cats.

I'd like to hear people speculate about how their favorite leaders might address some of the issues/challenges of today.

Proscriptions? Ironically, I think that some liberals might be in favor of this.

Well, people would certainly stop complaining about Bush, that's for certain.

In fact, they'll probably stop complaining about Hitler too.

And ineffective Congress members would be frequently executed en masse. (Although that might not be an entirely bad thing)

Also, it would be nice if someone like Hadrian could clear-out the law books of stupid, obsolete laws, like the one that got that kid in georgia locked up for getting a bj.

I'm also for culling congress a bit.

in all seriousness, i think that many of these leaders would press to end the ineffective and polarizing two party system that we have in place today. i dont know one person who completely identifies with either party. unfortunately, the nature of today's society dictates that very few people, like all aforementioned, will ever decide to pursue public office due to the overwhelming transparency and inspection of one's personal life. its really atrocious.

Leaders are overrated. Be your own leader.

I remember seeing a television special about former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. I found him impressive enough to read his autobiography, which was also quite excellent. As an American, a lot of his policies seemed closer to socialism than I am comfortable with, but his attitude, flair, and conviction were to be admired.

Some others, in no particular order:

George Washington
Robert E. Lee
William Wallace
Ronald Reagan

Caesar
Augustus
Pyrrhos
Leonidas (did other stuff than 300 mind you...)
Alexander the Great
Hanibal
Cyrus the Great
Francisco d'Anconia (even though I don't agree with him)
Sun Tzu

Maria José Aznar

Also the way he was dressing his self.
Always a stylish look.

Him

He was pretty much a socialist (and a pal of Fidel Castro), created many social programs that helped put Canada into debt and tried to create a brand of Canadian nationalism and unity that went up to be a gigantic failure. Even today, we are stuck with Trudeau enthusiasts (including his son who will soon be running for office) trying to revive his cult of personality. But, yeah, anyways, he was quite a leader and inspirational to many of my fellow Canadian citizens... unfortunately.

Here's an interesting piece, actually: Pierre Elliott Obama.

Anyways, back to the topic:

Pericles - Of course he was not a leader as in a 'Prime Minister' but he was a great general, getting elected times and times again. His late fall into disgrace because of his strategy in the Peloponnesian War doesn't alter his greatness.

Winston Churchill - He was a certified bad ass. And a leader.

Ronald Reagan - You can hate his guts, but he was really The Great Communicator. I think that 'A Time For Choosing' is one of the very finest moment of American rhetoric. I also happen to agree with him; he made being a Barry Goldwater conservative 'cool', even though he couldn't reduce the size of government. I think it taught (or should've taught) conservatives that reducing government's size without a crisis going on is nearly impossible, but that slowing its expansion is what you have to aim for.

FDR - I certainly don't agree with all of his policies, but he was most definitely a great leader.