What happens to a nation, which doesn't question the motives of their leaders?

Question

I like to have you opinion, is it healthy, to criticize and question your military and political leaders, or should you just say "Heil"?

Answer 1

it is not only the right, but the responsibility of the people to question their leaders in a free society.

Answer 2

You should be critical with everyone working for you.
And it's not a "leader", it's the president. It's not there to "lead", it supposed to be an administrator.
Many years of not criticizing have led to this tyrannical state. It's not an exaggeration. The president and his entourage is almost the sum of all power. And if the Congress keeps renouncing responsibilities to the executive, it's going to be the sum of all power. The federal judiciary system and the supreme court have been submissive to the federal government for a long time now. The people doesn't even have access to the election of its members. How can you expect independence when the one in charge of the judge appointment is the one being judged?

Answer 3

The only thing that I can think of is the fate of Native American Indian People. It's not that they did not question their leaders but they trusted the wrong people. Indian people believe in trust and taking people at their word which proved to be a fatal mistake. And some of the leaders trusted the wrong people and the Indian people did trust the leaders.

Answer 4

Questioning is fine. Falling into paranoid conspiracy theories and personally bashing is not. Disagreeing is fine. Throwing eggs and burning effigies is going beyond civility.

There are limits we as normal human beings should not cross when it comes to political discourse. Taking out full ads in a major newspaper to do a personal smear on a general out there risking his life that has served this nation faithfully and has more information on the subject of Iraq than any of his critics, is just sickening.

Answer 5

I think Theodore Roosevelt said it very well:

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."

-- Theodore Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star, 149
May 7, 1918

Answer 6

And what happens to a country when it doesn't question the motives of those "questioning" the government? Guess what... at one point Hitler was the one engaging in "healthy" criticism.

Should we just say "heil" then?

Answer 7

Definitely you should question and it is healty. Knowledge is healthy in itself. That is the one thing that no one in this world can take from you. As long as you know - u can nver go wrong. We, the people, make America and without us, there would be no political nothing and no-how. If we sit and do not question or criticize - as we do now, we fall as one, as we are now.

Answer 8

Certainly in a republic it is necessary to hold the leaders to some standards, to keep them accountable. Our first ammendment rights allow us to question the government without fear of prosecution or worse.

However, like all rights, these rights can be abused. While there is room for legitimate criticism, a great many people merely choose to abuse those rights to show outright hatred for our leaders (a good example: President Bush). It doesn't matter whether their criticisms are valid. They'll call names, they'll try to accuse leaders of wrong-doings they have not commited, and the list goes on and on.

Are they free to do this? Yes. However, does that make it right? No.

In short, criticize your leaders. Hold them accountable, but do it CONSTRUCTIVELY. Don't try to tear down. Use your words to try to help our leaders govern the country to the best of their ability.

End speech.

Answer 9

What happens to a country when the (liberal) media convinces the population that what is reports is absolute and you have a population that spends more time reading headlines than the actual story. You get Stalin, you get Hitler. You guys complain so much about what is "obvious" you cant see what you are being manipulated into accepting. Few people in Germany actualy thought Hitler was a bad thing for Germany
"Todays liberals are tomorrows conservatives,... everyone grows up"

Answer 10

In a healthy society, it is paramount to question the motives of leaders. No questions = no answers. Usually answers to questions raises even more questions. Anyone who thinks they have all the answers is lying to us or themselves because that is impossible.
Japanese proverb: None of us is as smart as all of us.