Of power, leaders and morals
"Power goes out from the barrel of the gun", this is a famous quote from Mao Tse Tung. This is partly and temporarily true as there are really many factors in having power and becoming a successful leader. In the case of the Chinese Communist revolution, Chiang Kai Shek had the military power but Mao Tse Tung had the people and the moral high ground, so Mao eventually won.
There is this mythical story of a king who was such a powerful and forceful leader, that in one major battle, he commanded his troops to march towards a cliff and fall off it in full view of his enemies. This so impressed and scared the opposing army that they surrendered. I could not find any supporting historical (or otherwise) evidence to this story, but I found anecdotal rebuttal. It seems the battle was fought in a cold dark night and the soldiers marching towards the cliff could not see what was in front of them and marched to their death unknowingly.
I am more inclined to believe that soldiers or followers, no matter how loyal, still have self-preservation instincts and a moral compass that guide them. During the height of Marcos power in the Philippines, there was a joke that some of the loyal Cabinet members were asked what they would do if Marcos would tell them to jump off the building. And the joke was that they would answer "from which floor, sir?" That none of them jumped off any building, means none of them were asked or none of them obeyed. In fact, during and particularly after the EDSA revolution, most of the loyal Marcos people quietly disappeared and moved on.
There is this debate on whether man is originally or basically good or bad. And that religion and society established morality to entrench his basic goodness or to rein in his evil tendencies. This is not the time or the space to argue about this contentious issue, but I would posit that morality has put order and justice to society and promoted the development of mankind. Moral and ethical principles are needed to lessen conflicts and establish peace. It was important to agree on what are good and bad actions, what are desirable and hateful outcomes, what should be honored and condemned, what rights should be respected, and what other things should be done to promote peace and prosperity among people.
I believe the realization of the need for moral and ethical values for society to flourish preceded the establishment of religions. Religions made these moral and ethical standards and mandates an end in itself, so that being a moral and ethical person is good in itself plus heaven for those religions that have heaven. It is also noteworthy that the Golden Rule "Do unto others what you would want others to do unto you", is among the teachings in almost all religions.
Even with this realization, the world is still in a lot of trouble and conflict, and abuse of power by leaders is still happening. The current dictators in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe are examples. But there are also very good examples of past and present leaders whose power are/were anchored on moral and ethical principles. Gandhi, Mandela, and Lincoln are some of them and some present-day leaders governing the more economically progressive countries now. But the best example would still be Jesus Christ who did not command any army or even have any weapon and yet is still the most powerful leader that the world have ever had by the sheer force of his moral and ethical teachings.
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