Favorite political figure?

[bryant.coleman]

Julius Caesar. Led the Romans all the way. Was huge

Julius Caesar was a great military leader, no doubt. But he was also one of the world's first absolute dictators. He violently and forcibly overthrew the democratically elected senate three times in total.

[KimNam]

Napoleon Bonaparte for me
He fought many monarch and kingdom in Napoleonic Wars
too bad he lose at waterloo

[sana8410]

How about this man ? :-



                       

Muhammad Ali  was a professional boxer ,he showed world-class genius in every stage of his career: intrapersonal genius -his ability to motivate himself; interpersonal genius -his ability to communicate and socialize; physical genius -do I need to explain; and of course, mathematical genius. Ali’s genius in strategy and tactics – to me, is mathematical....so if he wouldn't have been an professional boxer probably he would've been and great political figure.

[sana8410]

The Roman Emperor Cincinnatus deserves a mention. He was asked to be emperor twice during a times of crisis for Rome and when he had managed the crisis he gave up absolute power, restored the republic and returned to his farm.
The cities of Cincinnati Ohio and Italy are named after him.

"A man who could have ruled the Roman Empire but instead returned to his small farm to be with his family."
 This man, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus lived 2500 years ago, at the rise of the Roman Empire, and over the ages, he’s been considered an outstanding example of a person who would humbly surrender power for the good of his fellow citizens.
Cincinnatus’ story especially touches us now when we see presidents and dictators grab more power but it has been true throughout history as leaders have always lusted to rule. 
http://www.kazantoday.com/WeeklyArticles/wk151.html

People like him(the real leaders) choose to live a simple life and let the world be ruled by dictators and corrupt presidents......

[jambola2]

How about this man ? :-



                       

Muhammad Ali  was a professional boxer ,he showed world-class genius in every stage of his career: intrapersonal genius -his ability to motivate himself; interpersonal genius -his ability to communicate and socialize; physical genius -do I need to explain; and of course, mathematical genius. Ali’s genius in strategy and tactics – to me, is mathematical....so if he wouldn't have been an professional boxer probably he would've been and great political figure.

With Muhammad Ali, I think he earned a lot of the aura around him through his rebellious attitude. His courage in shunning his accolades for the civil rights movement was what was commendable. Not sure how successful he would have been as a political figure though, assuming we're talking about leaders here

[Canis Lupus]

Hello everyone! Just thought we could share political figures which inspire us with each other.
You can choose from either past or present! No matter from which country.

I'll start!

Mine would be Alexander the Great!

Born to King Philip II in 356 BC, he had everything. He was a prince to a mighty kingdom, yet unlike many spoiled rich brats who end up squandering their parent's empire like many we see today, he had an intense dislike of his father, and he transformed that dislike into an overwhelming desire and pit-less ambition to achieve more than him.

When his father launched a military campaign and conquered almost all of Greece, he famously complained "My father will go on conquering until there is nothing extraordinary left for me to do."

When he was 20, his father was murdered by a courtier. The cities which was under his father's rule rise up in rebellion, dreaming of freedom. However, even though he was advised by advisers to proceed cautiously, in a show of strength, he marched to the furthest reaches of his kingdom crushing every rebellion along the way.

This is a man who would end up conquering most of Asia and created one of the largest empires of the ancient world, a task he undertook when he was crowned as king when merely 20 years of age.

There is much we can learn from Alexander.

Who is your inspiration?

My favorite character in history is Alexander also! Truly an amazing man...

[vokain]

From my limite knowledge, Jefferson, Alexander, Alcibiades, and I kinda like King Wen of Zhou too

[yvv]

http://demotivators.to/media/posters/3533/406127_i-stalin.jpg

[plateex]

Some of the figures mentioned above were truly remarkable, both as military leaders and/or political thinkers... but I've noriced a lack of figures from the Middle Ages in this thread - and I think there were also medieval politicians worth mentioning.
So I would go for Charlemagne - he re-introduced the idea of imperial power in the West. He was also a great military leader who united vast ethnically and culturally different areas of Western Europe under one rule (although some of his decisions might well be disputed) and managed to rule them as peacefully as it was possible at his time (with Saxons being major exception). And he had sort of intelectual interests as well - he sponsored an important cultural revival after dark centuries whereby helping to preserve and enrich ancient legacy for the whole Western civilization.

Another interesting medieval figure was emperor Frederick II in the 13th century, I think - he managed to oppose the pope, instead of leading a crusade he made peace with his Saracen adversaries that provided Christian pilgrims with free access to the Holy land, and as a Sicilian king he maintained religious tolerance (Christians, Muslims and Jews living in hramony in Sicily ) for the benefit of his kingdom. And at time when literacy was still not perfectly common among Western ruling elites, he not even could read and spoke six languages - he also wrote book (on falconry)

[taipo]

What a guy!

Ol Dubya

One of the basic skills of filling the shoes of a sock puppet president is that you need to be able to read the Teleprompter, and so his reading skills were just above that of a small child, meant he just qualified to be able to carry out the most important part of the acting role as the commander and chief, to be able to read a speech someone else had written for him.

He did more in his two terms to undermine the credibility of the oval office than all of the previous sock puppets combined. So he gets my vote as fav political figure...

Seriously though, my favourite political leader would be Chief Gall of the Lakota. True visionary and a decisive and self-less leader of the people.

[umair127]

Glad to see so many excellent and inspiring political leaders being recognized and recommended in this thread!
I would also like to honor Francis Bacon, an England politician in the late 1500s who served under both Queen Elizabeth I and King James I!
Although his father was a Lord Keeper, he climbed up the political ladder the hard way starting from an MP, to attorney general and eventually Lord Chancellor of England. He was a close adviser to the King and even supported some of the King's very controversial decisions so that he could convince the King to encourage Scientific Development in Britain!
In an era which was still burning witches at the stake, he managed to use his influence in court to encourage scientific endeavors and was widely regarded after his death as the father of the great scientific revolution of the western world.
He remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific method during the scientific revolution.

Ahhhhh, Francis Bacon! I remember reading about him once in a history book.I liked one of the quotes he wrote in his greatest book, The Advancement of Learning where he wrote:

"And being now at some pause, looking back into that I have passed through, this writing seemeth to me (si nunquam fallit imago), as far as a man can judge of his own work, not much better than that noise or sound which musicians make while they are in tuning their instruments, which is nothing pleasant to hear, but yet is a cause why the music is sweeter afterwards. So have I been content to tune the instruments of the Muses, that they may play that have better hands. "

The humility of that man! Not many politicians nowadays can be humble like that if they are in his position.

[sana8410]

Pope Francis Is Probably the Best Politician in the World - While celebrating an open-air Mass in Bethlehem, Francis unexpectedly invited Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Vatican for a June meeting of prayer and dialogue. Within an hour, both had accepted. Francis’s successful overture was especially remarkable considering the failed efforts by the United States earlier this spring to get both sides to the table to begin negotiated peace talks. However, this could be the boost that Secretary of State John Kerry needed to revive this peace process, which has been largely dormant for the past four years. As you can see Pope is better at politics than US government.

He's a revolutionary pope that has rejected all the fancy customs and extravagant costumes of the papal office and has exhibited very humble attitude unlike other popes before him, even actively addressing problems faced by the church and apologizing for past church actions such as sexual abuse cases and accepting gay marriage.
This is surely a great man who is deserving of our respect, regardless of religious beliefs! (or the lack thereof)

[zolace]

A great person in every way Martin Luther King .... America needs more people like him .
I would like to mention Che Guevara as well - big man and big political person - for those who don't know who he is , I can only say that Cuban Revolution would never happened without him ,

would like to add some quotes by Che :
"The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall."

Or my favorite :
"I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man."

Viva la revolucion !

I remember reading about his literacy campaign once.He was a major force in improving literacy in Cuba. At the start of his literacy campaign, the literacy rate in Cuba was between 60 and 75%.He determined that the lack of educational facilities was the main reason for the depressed literacy rate.
In order to increase literacy, Guevara enlisted the help of volunteers including popular educators, workers from factories and 100,000 students between the ages of 10 and 19 and sent them to go out and teach the illiterate people of Cuba how to read. During this time, the volunteers stayed with the poor people eliminating class boundaries and eight months later, all their combined efforts resulted in a jump in Cuba’s literacy rate to 96%!
It was hailed as one of the world’s greatest educational accomplishments of the 20th century.

[nickenburg]

Mine has always been Che Guevara



He wanted to start a revolution in the whole world but got killed by the Cia.
I think he is still the face of revolution, you still see alot of people with tshirts and other stuff from Che Guevara.
When there is a protest everyone should wear Che Guevara masks!

[umair127]

My favorite leader is Abraham Lincoln .. He was simply a genius.. Had he be ruling the country now, the world would have been an all together a different place surely..

Lol...hell yes it would be different. Martial law, imprisoning dissenters, no trial by jury...

With the technology of today he could kill a lot more than a few hundred thousand Americans in the name of "Unifying the country" aka, squashing individual and state rights.

Abraham Lincoln was a pure politician, and with today's media his ability to flip-flop on issues, depending on which region of the country he was in, would be non-existent. Abraham Lincoln told the audience exactly what they wanted to hear, and definitively stated that if he could end the war without freeing a single slave he would. His goal was to keep the Union together, not to end slavery. However, he was instrumental in the passage of the 13th Amendment, outlawing slavery; Sadly, his assassination prevented a successful "Reconstruction" of the United States. Although, I'm not sure had he lived, things would be any different. The Radical Republicans of that era were able to capitalize on the tragedy to ensure passage of significant legislation, the 14th and 15th Amendments!!

But, with the way Citizens United has perverted the 14th amendment it would be interesting to see what old Abe thinks of Corporations being considered people and political contributions protected as free speech!!

Agreed. He is very rare political figure in the history.
Is the story about his fight against vampire (during the civil war) legend or just rumor? Maybe I watch Hollywood too much. But frankly I heard many legends what all the first men of the States do, great things (or they all are Hollywood's work again?).

[bryant.coleman]

He wanted to start a revolution in the whole world but got killed by the Cia.

No joke. The CIA was directly involved in his capture and the eventual execution. The CIA was well supported by Klaus Barbie, the German neo-Nazi. Wikipedia claims that he was executed by Mario Terán, a Bolivian. But nowadays, the truth has been uncovered. It was CIA operatives, who executed him.

[umair127]

What about Obama?The greatest political leaders ever has to be our very own Barack Obama.. He has been doing a great job,, strengthened his own country as well as allowed to others to flourish...

[bryant.coleman]

He has been doing a great job,, strengthened his own country as well as allowed to others to flourish...

Strengthening the country? Examples are here:

1. Public debt is at record high
2. US Dollar is getting more and more devalued.
3. The economy still remains in shambles.

[Rigon]

Mine would be Napoleon Bonaparte! He was a great French emperor who was loved by a lot of his subjects. When he was exiled by his political foes, he chose to escape captivity and marched a small army to Paris itself! And when he was confronted by the enemy (his former) army, he said "If there is one of you who would kill his Emperor, here I am." They instead surrendered to him and joined him to claim France back into his rule. Too bad he was not an economist. He barely ruled for 100 days after his return from exile.

Napoleon Bonaparte was indeed a great man... Besides being a great military leader he has contributed in various different ways.. The way he had reorganized the legal structure of France was revolutionary..

Mine is Napoleon Bonaparte too! Although for reasons different than Noviapriani. My reason is because of Napoleon's enforcement of the 'Napoleonic Code' to areas where he conquered.
The Napoleonic code is a revolutionary set of laws in its time which allowed freedom of religion, not allowing privileges based on birth and selection of civil servants based on merit!
The Napoleonic code was subsequently adopted by many countries in the world! It is not unfair to say that we might not have the many liberties we have today without him!

[Rigon]

Mine would be Napoleon Bonaparte! He was a great French emperor who was loved by a lot of his subjects. When he was exiled by his political foes, he chose to escape captivity and marched a small army to Paris itself! And when he was confronted by the enemy (his former) army, he said "If there is one of you who would kill his Emperor, here I am." They instead surrendered to him and joined him to claim France back into his rule. Too bad he was not an economist. He barely ruled for 100 days after his return from exile.

Napoleon Bonaparte was indeed a great man... Besides being a great military leader he has contributed in various different ways.. The way he had reorganized the legal structure of France was revolutionary..

Mine is Napoleon Bonaparte too! Although for reasons different than Noviapriani. My reason is because of Napoleon's enforcement of the 'Napoleonic Code' to areas where he conquered.
The Napoleonic code is a revolutionary set of laws in its time which allowed freedom of religion, not allowing privileges based on birth and selection of civil servants based on merit!
The Napoleonic code was subsequently adopted by many countries in the world! It is not unfair to say that we might not have the many liberties we have today without him!