The World’s Leaders Are Terrible – Declaration of Independence from All of Them
FOOD FOR THOUGHT, 8 Jul 2019
Jon Schwarz and Michael Gerber – The Intercept
An old billboard that displayed a U.S. flag stands on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border on April 3, 2019, in Otay Mesa, Calif.
Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images
4 Jul 2019 – When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for the Sane People of this Planet to dissolve the political bands that have connected them with their Leaders, and to give getting along without Leaders a real Shot, courtesy requires that we should declare the causes of this long-overdue separation, just so we’re all on the same page.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that Leaders are a pretty dodgy proposition — that even the best ones are Self-Absorbed Prima Donnas, and the rest are seriously Craze-o Lunatics. That Sane People have the right to tell their Leaders, “See Ya — wouldn’t want to be Ya.” That to secure this right of being left alone, we should set up a special Island to where all Leaders can be sent, so that they can bicker, and posture, and pursue the Phantom of Eternal Fame among themselves without Injuring all the rest of us. That this Island could maybe — this is just off the top of our heads, you understand — be like Epcot Center, with the whole world in miniature so the Leaders could conquer it and lose it and bend it to their Mighty Will and lose it again, and generally Ruin It to their hearts’ content, without bothering Us. Prudence indeed will dictate that the long-established Idea of having Leaders should not be changed for light or transient Causes, but come on. We’ve given this concept plenty of Time — at least 8,000 years — and it is for the birds. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
The world’s Leaders have somehow convinced us that we are all on different Teams, sort of, and that they are the rightful captains of these Teams.
They have tried to weld us together by constantly harping on our Team’s Great and Glorious Destiny, assuming that we, like them, give a shit. In lower voices, they assure us that we will be in Big Trouble if we don’t do exactly as they Say.
They have persuaded us to try to kill members of the other Teams, instead of following our natural instinct, which is to investigate whether people from other places have discovered any new Sex Tricks, or have Better Food.
They have gotten us to go on ludicrously dangerous missions against the other Teams, while they remain safely behind at their Impregnable Mountain Redoubts. This has insured that the people responsible for starting Wars always survive, and can’t wait to start the Next One.
They have started innumerable, catastrophic conflicts to, for example, impress somebody that rejected them in High School, or to prove to their Mother that they’re just as successful as their Older Brother. Read their Biographies if you don’t believe Us.
They have made our laws so complicated that, while we know we’re being Screwed, we can never figure out Exactly How.
They’ve informed us that they’ve talked to God, and that He agrees with them Completely.
In every stage of these Oppressions, we have humbly petitioned for redress by liking everything posted by that political friend of ours on Facebook, spending 14 hours a day on Twitter, and even laughing at the opening monologues on late-night TV. The cost is finally too dear, and we need a new Strategy.
We, therefore, the Sane People of this Planet, who don’t think that anybody will (or should) remember any of us in 500 years, do solemnly publish and declare that all the world’s Leaders are hereby relieved of their positions; that our feeling is, enough already with the Jihads and Crusades and Glorious Struggles and Finest Hours; that we believe we will be much better off without Leaders, relying for our safety instead on our mutual inability to organize a three-person trip to 7-Eleven, much less sustained armed conflict; that it’s time to get this Leader Island idea off the ground; that if, once the Leaders have been sent to the Island, any of us develop Leader-tendencies, we will encourage such Persons to develop a Hobby, or get them a Date with somebody Nice, and this will help them remember what’s important. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our dearest Hope that we can finally get some Peace and Quiet. We are not Kidding.
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Jon Schwarz – jon.schwarz@theintercept.com
Go to Original – theintercept.com
Tags: Food for thought - Editorial cartoon
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