Do we have a psychological need to be led?

[coberst]

Do we have a psychological need to be led?

Iron Law of Oligarchy refers to the inherent tendency for all complex organizations to develop a ruling clique of leaders with interests in the organization itself rather than in its official aims. These leaders came to desire leadership and its status and rewards more than any commitment to common social goals.

Robert Michels, a German sociologist who first defined the term, argued that these inherent organizational tendencies were strengthened by a mass psychology of leadership dependency; he felt that people had a basic psychological need to be led.

Democracy is an attempt to thwart this ‘iron law’ by creating a system of government wherein the nation state is ruled by the will and consent of the whole population.

The United States is the first nation to fully implement a system of government wherein the iron law is not a reality. How well are we doing? Does the US have a ruling oligarchy that determines public policy to suit the needs and desires of that oligarchy rather than the needs and desires of its citizens?

Does the US have a ruling oligarchy that desires leadership and its status and rewards more than any commitment to common social goals of the nation? I think yes!

Do the citizens of the US display a basic psychological need to be led? I am undecided!

Are all democratic forms of government merely a system of illusions designed to allow the citizens to sit back and think they control even when they do not? I am undecided!

Do you think, as I do, that bullfight is an apt analogy for all democracies (the bull being the people and the Matador being the oligarchy)?

If such an oligarchy existed do you think many citizens could recognize its existence? I do not.