Different kinds of leadership

To the Editor,

Leadership is generally conceived of as something honorable and noble. We think of such people as Winston Churchill and MLK. But leadership is not always positive and benign in how it leads our thinking and behavior. It involves compellingly powerful ideas. With the cooperation of the media, our leadership is inundating us with such ideas.

The theme from our administration has been one of fear and divisiveness. It has emerged from a phalanx of strong voices, not just that of the president, and not only of people currently in the news. The voices include Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon, John Bolton, and Newt Gingrich, all projecting a negative ideology. The “deconstruction of the administrative state” is an extremely powerful (and seldom understood) idea, enunciated by Bannon and implemented by POTUS. Such ideas feed off of frustration and despair, and create a vicious circle which in turn nourishes it. 

Hopefully, enough of us will nurture a positive vision that will enable us to defeat such destructive ideology. November can’t come soon enough!

Rob Dreyfus
Swarthmore