Before going any further it’s important to explain the idea behind the Law of Sacrifice. Its roots lie in the concept of ‘making sacred’ – embracing choices, making decisions that are for the higher good is one way in which we make something sacred. Sacred because acting for the good of the many, when it costs us something personally is a soul impulse filled with the qualities of the soul.
I offer this concept because I wonder each day whether our political leaders have any concept of acting for the good of the many even if it means some level of personal sacrifice.
Belonging to a political party, a group is meant to mean finding ways to collaborate, to harmonise, to include differences and find ways to move forward. In politics in particular, the focus is meant to be the common good – finding solutions that serve the community in the most appropriate way. I’m not trying to pretend it’s easy – I’m simply establishing a principle – a principle which feels very important.
Then we see a headline in the media ‘6 Prime Ministers in 10 years’. In the UK! It literally makes me want to weep.
Why? Because the UK is known for its leadership in governance. Not for getting it right all the time but for being a beacon of working things out, bit by bit whilst holding to higher ideals. One of the key phrases in the Parliamentary hubbub is ‘Order’ meaning respect – willingness to exchange views, create opportunity for new thinking and do so with respect for each other.
Changing leaders like our underwear is a far cry from this. It shows huge disrespect to us as the voting public and to the community politicians are here to serve – let alone going the distance toward the Law of Sacrifice.
Instead of changing the leader (because we can) why don’t we work to help the leader and the group as a whole succeed? Why not sacrifice personal goals and ambitions for the good of the whole? Now we are talking.
Whether or not Sir Keir Starmer is the best Prime Minister or not isn’t really the debate here. The reality is that he was an elected leader – both by his party and by the people – therefore democratically chosen and presumably considered to be adequate for the task. Surely the greater good for the UK lies in a period of stability in which better decisions can be made, collective forces from within the party can be used to best effect.
The days, weeks and months, if not years, spent on changing Prime Ministers instead of rowing in behind and having the debates cost everyone.
Costs the country, costs the individuals and if only they were willing to admit it, costs the party. Our international standing to participate in global debate just gets weakened.
The true leadership act here is to invest in the power of the group and, by all means necessary, find ways to lift the performance of the group as a whole to the highest possible level. If some personal sacrifice is needed along the way, then this is also leadership.
Politics often gets a bad name because it deserves it. I don’t say that because I think being a politician is easy – I say it because I fundamentally believe political leadership is first and foremost about living by the highest ethics and values possible and then applying that to intelligent and well-developed thinking and action.
In fact, isn’t that leadership?