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I’m fond of political philosophers, but I’m not one for gathering quotes just to throw at people in arguments. On the contrary, I think a man with wisdom need not quote another man, for his words should already possess reason.

One philosopher I’ve come to like is Aristotle. I find his writings laughable when compared to modern life. Aristotle saw the relationship between state and public as symbiotic – meaning that both were beneficial to each other. That’s crazy right!? I mean, being a citizen of a 3rd world country that already seems like a fairy tale.

Reading history on various states like Marxist, Fascist, extreme conservative, extreme liberal etc. made me realize that the balance could easily be stirred. A state can require too much of its citizens for too little in return. Citizens can also require too much from the state without contributing to the economy.

Another interesting argument Aristotle brings forth is that of the good citizen and good man. He states that often a good man isn’t necessarily a good citizen and vice versa. When I read this argument I was kinda motivated to find a real-life example. Recently with the public suddenly turning in favour of Leon I realized what had happened.

Speaking to the Zombinho I asked what they thought of Leon. Zombinho expressed mixed feelings, but said in his closing sentence that Leon was a “good player”. Leon wasn’t voted in because he was a likeable person, but because he was a competent leader. I think we’ve had a lot “good men” as CPs over the past few months. Each had inspiring words, a likable personality and a compromising attitude. Most were probably also scared of receiving too much flak from the public so they never crossed the boundaries set by previous administrations.

Leon on the other hand has a very stern personality. He refuses to compromise and crosses almost every boundary. So if you know eSouth Africa you’d probably agree with me when I say the event that a highly disliked person gets presidency in itself is a revolution. He has secured new allies, new enemies and above all - a brief period of freedom. That makes him a good citizen, doesn’t it?

Perhaps a new era awaits us. Straying from the electoral norm certainly isn’t comforting for a nation wanting to secure peace, but it has given us hope – to secure freedom once and for all, or to repair our tarnished reputation as a mere puppet. However it may be – our war has just started.

Today, I am playing eRepublik - the social war game.