I too have marveled at the odds of that many men with those unique talents appearing in the same place at the same time. It does seem outside the randomness of chance.

And yet, somehow, we ended up with a generation of statesmen who did just that. Providence? The odds that were defied in the success of the American Revolution would tend to suggest it.

We should expect more, and I agree that we occassionally get leaders who do not fit the stereotype, but we must understand the caring, unselfish ones are the exception, and ALWAYS will be! Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Is there the occassional, rare bird like George Washington who can lead a successful revolution, guide his constituents to the right path, then hang up his sword and step down from the Presidential podium? Yes. But douches like Castro, Che, Mao, Voltaire, Khan, Alexander, Caesar, Xerxes, Trotsky, Saddam, Pol Pot and Chavez are much, much, much more common.

I will be publishing a post soon that explains this all in more detail, but never forget what Albert Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” We are literally insane if we believe we will ever have a majority of elected officials that care more about their constituents than themselves. I could go on for days listing elected officials who have abused the sacred trust they were entrusted with. The list of those who truly governed unselfishly would fit on a postage stamp. What is that number, as a percent? 1%, 5%? Give me any culture, any system of government and date in human history and the result will be the same.

Our founding fathers understood this and that is why they labored so hard to design a government of limited powers, checks and balances. We have the document that tells us how to do this. As long as we ignore it we will have insanity.