Rocco Buttiglione

There are few leaders in recent history who I would have followed without hesitation, by which I mean that if said leader walked into the room and said, "come on, let's go, there is work to do" I would click my heels, salute and follow. Generalissimo Francisco Franco y Bahamonde is one, obviously, as I consider him the greatest statesman of the twentieth century. Antonio Salazar, Engelbert Dolfuss, and Winston Churchill are just about the only other ones (I am probably forgetting someone, though). These are all men who, though I might disagree with a thing here or there, I could trust as leaders not just as politicians.

Most other leaders I would have hesitations and reservations. On the mostly positive side would be Benito Mussolini. If he came in giving orders, my response would be to see what he was up to. In the end I would probably Believe! Obey! Fight! but not without looking to see what was up his sleeve. On the mostly negative side would be someone like Carter or even Bush, who would really have to sell the case to me. So, yes, I do suppose that it means that I would more willingly invade Ethiopia than I would Iraq (it runs in the family, after all. I did have relatives who served in the Abbysinian campaign).

However, until now there has been only one leader who could command a Franquista style obedience from me, only one in the past thirty something years who was a real leader with cojones verdad. Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel and Juan Carlos all showed promise, but ended up weak, not able to really lead their nations.

But there was one who sparkled as a leader. That was Nelson Mandela. Like Churchill, I do not see eye to eye with him on all matters, but his integrity and leadership abilities are amazing. Let's put it this way, if I were a black South African living under Apartheid, and had to be told that Boers with their Dutch Reform Church were the master race, as soon as I got the upper hand there would be mounds of dead Boers. I think it is that way with almost all of us. We might say, oh no, I would want to rebuild, calm, rational, blah, blah, blah, but the truth is, we would all have an incredible impulse to roast some wild Boer.

But mounds of dead people who used to talk like the Katzenjammer Kids is not what we had in South Africa. Not even prison camps and land seizures (the latter would probably have been pretty calmly accepted by lots and lots of folks outside South Africa, too). No, Nelson Mandela created Truth Commissions just to bring everything out in the open. Given the justifiable rage of the people and the example set by the folks in Zimbabwe and Angola and Mozambique and... Mandela's achievement was remarkable. His ex-wife, the deranged murderess Winnie Mandela, certainly would not have shown such restraint and leadership. She would have created an amazing boom in the world used-tire market, but South Africa would be much worse off for it.

But other than Nelson Mandela there have been very few leaders that really are leaders. However, Rocco Buttiglione has consistantly shown his colors as a leader. Right now the Ghibilines are in charge, with their EU and laughable smoking restrictions, but a Ghibiline triumph always results in a Guelph rising, and Buttiglione is the man for the job.

If Buttiglione walked in the room today and said, "come on, there is work to do, let's go" I would click my heels, salute (Roman, natch), and say, "Yes, Duce!"

Believe! Obey! Fight!