Talking about the shifting mood of the nation between inauguration day, a year ago, and today, I find it strangely and sadly reassuring to remember what is meant by "mob rule."
Politics is a mob game; it’s simply about moving the right number of people from the other side to your side to stay in power. And it doesn’t much matter how your do it. The mob is emotional, not rational. What moves them often makes no sense. In fact the mob often votes against its' own best interests — whether they notice that or not is another matter — just because it makes them feel good.
Barrack Obama talked about that yesterday, responding to the Massachusetts’ senatorial outcome. The President pointed out that Scott Brown was elected for the same reason he was elected: people, in general, are not happy and want things to change. (Darn that Obama, he’s way too rational.)
Which leads to another point: When the mob moves to our side, we say, “The momentum of this great nation is finally moving in the right direction” — we invest the mob with insight. When the mob votes against our interests, we say, “The uniformed mob mentality has taken over.”
A digressive corollary: spending my entire life in various churches and nonprofit organizations, I’ve noticed how the voices of negative people have impact only when the organization loses momentum. When things are rolling along or feel like they're rolling, many a leaders' weaknesses will be overlooked. When things aren't rolling, the color of the minister’s socks is as likely to upset some folks as much as the content of the sermons. And they'll be very loud about it.
Of course, the same is true of leadership in any office or factory. In this case, I’m part of the mob.
How is all this reassuring? It lowers my expectations, makes me less upset when life is messy. Which it is right now. Very messy.
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