Last night, I read an excerpt from Lee Iacocca’s new book titled, Where Have All the Leaders Gone?… absolutely brilliant. Actually, maybe not so brilliant, but insightful, timely and rational.

Here is a man who has nothing to gain, but something to lose- his credibility. He may be marginalized by being defined as an old man who is irrelevant and out of touch. His words, however, cannot be ignored.

They cut to the point about leadership and the lack of leadership this country currently suffers. It’s not name calling. It’s specific instances and examples of how “our” leaders don’t act the part. They deal out platitudes. They orchestrate their audiences. They manipulate the system for the gain of the few. They suspiciously act like fascists.

Let me be clear about that word- “fascism.” To me, it means government and corporations working in concert towards shared goals. Mussolini called it “corporatism.”

I’m not talking JUST about the Bush administration. Congress is also culpable. Here’s a direct quote from the book…

“Congress was in session only ninety-seven days in 2006. That’s eleven days less than the record set in 1948, when President Harry Truman coined the term do-nothing Congress. Most people would expect to be fired if they worked so little and had nothing to show for it. But Congress managed to find the time to vote itself a raise. Now, that’s not leadership.”