Plato's advise to President-Elect Obama Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Platos advise to President-Elect Obama - Essay ExampleA difficult, if non impossible, task awaits you to start clean when you command office. So much has gone wrong, and the consequences of previous regulationrs actions will engage you throughout your time in office. But take my advice, the genuine ruler will take indian lodge and human character as his canvas, and begin by scraping it clean. . . . He will not consent to take in hand either an individual or a state or to draft laws, until he is given a clean surface to work on or has cleansed it himself (p. 209). You cant bank to fix anything if failed policies and actions cant be scraped away to make room for better governing. Weigh carefully in your mind, when youre asked to make decisions, the worth of a specific action, over and above what it means to those who supplicate you. Dont be afraid to end policies that werent set up with the peoples best interest in mind in the first place. Keep the greater good of the entire p opulation in mind, rather than the complaining voices of lobbyists and congressmen. Philosophically weigh the consequences of the war and the body politics economical policies, and make decisions from a clean slate if those previous policies arent working.The man who held office before you seemed to me intoxicated with power. I believe access to power must be confined to men who are not in love with it (p. 235). If you fall in love with being leader of whats been called the greatest democracy on earth, youll forget why you were elected to this office in the first place to serve the people. farm your life good and wise first, and then youll be happy and be able to rule the nation philosophically and not through power. All goes wrong when, starved for lack of anything good in their deliver lives, men turn to public affairs hoping to snatch from thence the happiness they hunger for (p. 235). Men and women who rule the nation must be philosophers