Cults of Personality   By Alex Massa  Conservatives, right-wingers, and Libertarians alike, throughout the history of America, have generally tended to stay away from personality cults or making political figures into god-like creatures, as the Left so often does with it’s political “heroes” and “martyrs”. However, many on the right are starting to stray from that philosophy, and we’re starting to run the risk of having big political names which out-shadow the real political issues and matters. We have to make sure that names don’t become too big and cults of personality do not emerge around our political candidates or leaders. While it is perfectly fine to praise our leaders for their accomplishments, we must not treat our leaders like Gods or immortals. A perfect example of a well crafted cult of personality currently present in America is the one around the head of the current governing regime in Washington. While it has fractured and isn’t nearly as strong or stable as it was during 2008, when he was close to achieving God-status in the eyes of a very large number of Americans. The followers of the cult of Obama were just as fervent as the followers of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, or Pol Pot. This, of course, is dangerous, because in the eyes of the devoted, the dear leader can do no wrong, even when said leader’s policies are clearly bad for the people and for the country as a whole. Such is the case with Pol Pot, whose extreme Luddite ways absolutely devastated Cambodia. Even so, his followers remained fanatically loyal to the last, and the evidence of this can be seen in the grotesque killing fields of that country, where neighbor would turn on neighbor, and son on father, and so forth, killing for the regime. It is sick, but we must remember that that can happen in America. People act as if we’re immune to any of the ills of the world. People always say, “well that can’t happen here!” But, the problem with that is, it can. We’re not immune. We’re not super human. It can happen here just as easily as it happens there. Therefore, we must watch vigilantly against cults of personality and actively work against them when we see them forming. Naturally, common sense and time will break many of them down, as happened with the cult of Obama, but sometimes, as in other historical cases, they can turn murderous and deadly. However, as I stated in the opening of this rambling article, right-wingers are not immune to this phenomena either, and we must combat it where we see it. As much as I hate to criticize President Reagan, as he truly did a magnificent job in office (probably one of the best Presidents of the 20th century - Calvin “Silent Cal” Coolidge is my personal favorite; he was Reagan’s as well), there is a cult around Reagan that has emerged in right-of-center circles in America. And again, it’s perfectly fine to celebrate him as a good leader and celebrate his accomplishments, but no one should be immune from criticism, and that includes President Reagan. He could’ve done better on several issues - amnesty is one of them. And that doesn’t make me a critic of Reagan. That makes me a realist. We shouldn’t have political “heroes” and “martyrs”. We’re supposed to be the logical side of the political spectrum, and we should know that no person is perfect or acts perfectly or God-like. The Democrats worship FDR and Kennedy. Let’s not worship our leaders. Let’s respect them but realize that they are human and make mistakes like the rest of us. I am not referring to any one person in particular, but rather penned this short piece as a warning to those of us on the right. It may feel good to idolize certain individuals, but doing so is dangerous, illogical, and just isn’t a good idea.