Big Think

Question: Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about the way the world is headed? 

Alan Dershowitz: Right now [June 2007], the world suffers from an incredible lack of creative leadership. I’m not talking only about the United States. I’m talking about Israel. I’m talking about the Palestinians. I’m talking about much of Western Europe. I’m talking about many religious leaders. This is not a time of great leadership. One does not see the [Winston] Churchills and the Roosevelts and the great leaders emerging.

I think one sees bureaucrats and charming people. It’s the price one pays for democracy gone amuck, with the media creating candidates and demanding of candidates that they be intelligenic.

I don’t know how Winston Churchill would do in an election today. He didn’t do so well in his own election after the Second World War.

We need great leadership. I think we’re seeing great leadership today in the business world. Innovations are just phenomenal. People like Bill Gates who are out there helping solve the world’s problems, and at the same time innovating.

I wish we would see better leadership in the political world. I think today the most innovative people do not go into politics, and that’s a tragedy. I wish people with big ideas would go into politics.

Recorded On: June 12, 2007