Lust for power

Some leaders are power hungry in the extreme. Some leaders have an ‘insatiable desire for power’. Some leaders have an ‘ardent lust of domination’. This ‘ardent lust of domination’ is no different from ‘extreme selfishness’. Some leaders attempt “to draw everything to center in ourselves, which we think will enable us to gratify every other passion.” Lust is a “psychological force producing intense desire for something.” Some have lust for money; others have lust for power.

Some leaders deliberately create ‘cults of hatred’. There are two types of cults – religious and political. Cults – both religious and political – can last for a long time. Cults – both religious and political – can be extremely dangerous. Religious cults can be dangerous for their followers and political cults can be extremely dangerous for their country.

According to Dr Janja Lalich, professor emeritus of sociology at the California State University, there are 11 common traits of cult leaders: charisma; narcissism; lack of guilt; spiritual bondage; lack of remorse; spiritual abuse; pathological liars; twisting facts; authoritarian; lack of boundaries and use of media. Cults are a “risky form of human behavior that diminishes our contact with reality and devalues anyone outside the cult.”

There are two types of personality cults of political leaders: “rituals of leader worship” and “propaganda that portrays the leader positively”. Political cults can have serious political consequences as the probability of street violence rises manifold. Political cults often threaten civil war and openly defy rule of law. Most political cults are destructive in nature. The presence of political cults in a democracy means increased political violence.

Within political cults, the ‘leader is always right’. Within political cults, the leader is ‘projected as a messiah’. Political cult leaders are extremely apt at controlling the behaviour of the youth. The narrative that cult leaders stir up is ‘us versus them’. Cult leaders frequently peddle ‘alternative facts’ and cults are full of conspiracy-addled members. Cult leaders claim that they are the only ones who represent the people-all their “political competitors are just part of the immoral, corrupt elite.” Quite often cult members do not even realize that they are part of a cult.

Political cults in established democracies with strong institutions are less of a threat than a nuisance. But, political cults in fragile democracies with weak institutions are a clear and present danger. Political cults damage democratic institutions including parliament and the judiciary. Political cult leaders also damage the military and the police.

I read somewhere that “lust for power is surely to be counted as one of the worst characteristics of a human being.” One man’s lust for power destroyed Germany. Another man’s lust for power was behind the Cambodian genocide. One family’s lust for power destroyed Syria.

Cult leaders have a tendency to “transform the most mild government into the most insupportable tyranny.” Yes, a cult leader needs the “assistance of like-minded people to serve as subordinate instruments in his pursuit of power.” Democracy is about ‘rights of the people’. Democracy is about the ‘protection of basic freedoms’. Political cults threaten the rights of the people. Political cults threaten basic freedoms. Political cults are a clear and present threat to democracies, especially fragile democracies.

The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. He tweets @saleemfarrukh and can be reached at: farrukh15@hotmail.com