Do we need politicians?

Brazil had a long dictatorship that lasted for around 25 years. I was born and brought up around that time and I was unable to see their impact until I was much older, capable of understanding my own environment. One of the impacts was take the political spirit out of people like me.

I consider myself as apolitical while living in a very political country – Colombia had civil wars provoked by this. It is often difficult to relate to others in that area.

A person with no political mindset will see things as they are, not because of some ideology that proposed it or a party that is trying to block it.

And as a non-political person, I do question: why do we still have politicians? Yes, there was a time population was small and isolated, so a few people could rule over the others – after all, these others were their relatives, neighbors and friends, so it was easy to keep some level of observation on them and propose needed changes in the environment.

I’m not talking of Romans, whose democracy was restricted to a small group of people. Switzerland was the place where politics became a solution for coexistence and size was a definite factor, it seems, as the failure of politicians in most places is related to the growth of our numbers and also our complexity as a society.

I would like to go beyond advocating the end of politicians: it is time each of us to take over our role as leaders of our own selves. This would help the present structure to work better as people will act more consciously and with less influence from other people. Decisions will be made according to needs and resources, not interests and influence.

At a time of sunset for politicians, self-leadership is the best possible replacement, generating a silent resolution for a better world.