Our ‘Leaders’ Expect Us To Make Sacrifices They Are Unwilling To Make Themselves

OpinionSpencerFernando

They don’t plan to eat the bugs and watch their wealth get inflated away, but they’re glad to see that happen to you.

Why wasn’t the COP26 Conference held virtually?

I’m not even saying this to be edgy or cynical, it’s a real, legitimate question.

Why not?

It would have sent a great message, with politicians and elites at least somewhat living up to their own rhetoric.

The carbon footprint of all the private jets and airliners flying to and from Glasgow was certainly massive, and – in stark contrast to the ‘eat the bugs’ push – they enjoyed quite a nice meat-filled menu.

Half of the COP26 food menu for delegates was meat and dairy based.

Now, I have no problem with this, if all the activists and politicians weren’t clearly trying to push people to eat less meat and more bugs.

The issue is the hypocrisy.

Leadership is a forgotten word

Think of the ancient idea of a leader.

A battle is raging.

The leader of each side is up in front, taking the most risk, showing courage, and leading by example.

That inspires others, as the leader shows ‘skin-in-the-game’.

At one time, declaring war against another tribe or kingdom would put the king/chief at direct risk of death. They would have to lead their men, and be put in as much peril as those they lead.

We are a long way removed from such times, but there are aspects of true leadership that still remain.

A leader who asks others to sacrifice must show a willingness to make those sacrifices themselves.

When they do so, they build credibility.

Consider that during World War Two, the King and Queen in the UK stayed in London, even during the Blitz. They easily could have evacuated, yet doing so would have meant exempting themselves from the risks faced by their fellow countrymen. Instead, they stayed, and faced the risk.

Imagine the credibility that built up.

Today, our so-called ‘leaders’ want all of us to fall into a war-time ‘sacrifice’ mindset, yet they want to remain completely exempt from it.

They want us to watch our purchasing power erode. They want us to eat less meat. They want us to travel less. They want us to fall further and further into economic desperation. But they won’t allow any of that to happen to themselves.

Indeed, most of those who advocate for draconian climate policies are already extremely rich, and know that their luxe lifestyles are fully insulated and protected from what they want to impose on the rest of us.

Someone like Justin Trudeau, whenever he’s done being a politician, will still be extremely wealthy, will still live in a luxury gated community, will be able to pass on immense generational wealth, and will likely travel the world. His carbon footprint will be far higher than that of most Canadians. And all the while, he will feel completely virtuous, as if he is helping ‘save the world’ by damaging Canada’s economy.

Many of the top climate activists are also incredibly rich. They fly in on private jets, lecture everyone else, and then fly back to keep living it up in luxury.

On Twitter, Pierre Poilievre pointed out how hypocritical this is:

“Of the 200+ private jets that flew to the carbon-fighting summit, how many were solar powered?”

“200 private jets–emitting up to 60 times the carbon per passenger as scheduled flights–take the world’s rich, famous & powerful to carbon reduction conference to save the world.

“Rules for thee, not for me.”

“How much could they have reduced carbon emissions by holding the big climate conference on zoom instead of in person?”

In response, it was noted how holding the conference on Zoom would deprive Trudeau of his precious photo opportunities:

Dictators vs Leaders

In the traditional sense of the word, many of our leaders are more like dictators. And I’m not just referring to the massive expansion of government power and restrictions of civil liberties we’ve seen recently. I’m talking about how they literally see their job as ‘dictating’ what others should do, without any willingness to lead themselves.

They think we should sacrifice and accept a lower standard of living just because they say so, because they say there is a ‘crisis’ and an ’emergency.’

All the while, they expect us to watch as they exempt themselves from any hardship and difficulty, and to somehow keep trusting them to make decisions for us.

Canadians must wake up

We are now at the point where it’s not just about what our hypocritical ‘leaders’ are doing.

It’s also about the question of why the public continues to go along with it.

When so many people can see the hypocrisy, when people can see that we are being forced to accept less while many politicians and elites keep getting more, why do so many people continue to allow this to happen?

A key reason is that – due to a perception that Canada is supposed to be ‘nice’ – many Canadians have locked themselves into a subservient and submissive mindset.

Many seem to truly believe that our ‘leaders’ are special and entitled to live better lives than everyone else, and that we should just keep our heads down and ‘do our part.’

That is the danger of accepting ‘niceness’ as the core of our national identity, as niceness is easily exploited in such a way as to become abject weakness.

Combine that weak mindset with a heavy dose of fear and a never-ending crisis narrative, and a large segment of the population is now willing to let a bunch of foolish hypocrites gain more and more control over our lives.

Decentralization & Empowerment

Given that our leaders are mostly power-hungry hypocrites who lack any actual leadership skills, it is essential that we stand up for decentralization and the empowerment of individuals and local communities. The problems facing our world will be solved through innovation, and innovation depends first and foremost on freedom, the freedom to speak, to question, to experiment, and to try different things without centralized power looming over it all.

Our ‘leaders’ have proven themselves to be unworthy of their positions, and they should be ignored and bypassed to the greatest extent possible.

Spencer Fernando

Photo – YouTube

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