Who are the political figures which you admire the most?

[Vetalia]

Marcus Aurelius was a really introspective guy. His thoughts were like a stream of consciousness, endlessly philosophizing.

Agreed, his Meditations are one of my favorite works.

[Kazakah]

For me it's Calvin Coolidge, Lee Kuan Yew and Confucius.

Silent Cal needs more recognition

[Vetalia]

Silent Cal needs more recognition

He's my favorite president after Eisenhower.

[Rusozak]

Silent Cal needs more recognition

He's my favorite president after Eisenhower.

Why?

[Dangine]

My favorite is John Meslier, a French priest, who was secretly an atheist. He wrote a book-length essay denouncing religion that was discovered when he died. The essay was described as his testament, so it became a book named Testament. I used to be an Agnostic but after reading his book I became an atheist. Meslier's work influenced people like Michel Onfray and Voltaire, however, Voltaire twisted Meslier's book and wrote a different version to promote his deist views, which made me lose a lot of respect for him.

Besides Meslier, some others include FDR, Abraham Lincoln, MLK, Daryl Davis, Bernie Sanders, Kyle Kulinski, Thaddeus Stevens, and Vermin Supreme.
Vermin Supreme could be considered a political figure as he has ran for president repeatedly so he is on my list as well.

Edit: I forgot to mention that Meslier was around in the 16th and 17th hundreds, a time in France were not being Christian could get you in trouble, him being an atheist back then was a big deal. He is also one of the earliest atheists we know about and probably the first in writing to promote it.

[Vetalia]

Why?

Because he cut taxes and let the American economy simply flourish via laissez faire policies, resulting in one of the strongest periods of economic growth in the entire history of this country. He kept the nation at peace and stayed independent from foreign entanglements and was also an early advocate of civil rights, free immigration and racial equality.

[Region of Dwipantara]

B.J. Habibie, 3rd Indonesian President who took over after the fall of the world's most corrupt dictator, President Suharto. Guy actually have an IQ of 200, is a brilliant aerospace engineer, solved the brutal 1997 Asian Financial Crisis in like a year, prevented the balkanization of Indonesia, pioneered regional decentralization, turned a hopelessly corrupt military dictatorship into a democratic republic, but was then booted out of office and disgraced by the corrupt parliament after he allowed East Timor to gain independence (after 20 years of brutal Indonesian subjugation that left 100.000 dead). His love life with his wife, Ainun, is also a great and touching romance story that had been made into books and films.

Other than that, Trump. Not his governance, but his overall genious strategies of seizing power – he is literally a real life evil supervillain. Not someone America needs, but someone that America deserves.

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

William Beveridge and Helena Kennedy.

[HypErcApitAl]

Teddy Roosevelt, Alexei Navalny and, of course, Nelson Mandela.

[HypErcApitAl]

My favorite is John Meslier, a French priest who was secretly an Atheist. He wrote a book-length essay denouncing religion that was discovered when he died. The essay was described as his testament, so it became a book named Testament. I used to be an Agnostic but after reading his book I became an Atheist. Meslier's work influenced people like Michel Onfray and Voltaire, however, Voltaire twisted Meslier's book and wrote a different version to promote his deist views, which made me lose a lot of respect for him.

Besides Meslier, some others include FDR, Abraham Lincoln, MLK, Daryl Davis, Bernie Sanders, Kyle Kulinski, Thaddeus Stevens, and Vermin Supreme.
Vermin Supreme could be considered a political figure as he has ran for president repeatedly so he is on my list as well.

Vermin's a good pick. I like him too, I just wanted to focus on my main three.

[Cisairse]

John F. Kennedy, the first and only Catholic President of the United States.

I also pick John F. Kennedy but for a totally different reason

[Nootka Coast]

adlai stevenson, helped convince jfk not to blow up the fricking planet

[Nootka Coast]

stanislav petrov, also didn't blow up the fricking planet.

[New Bremerton]

My favorite is John Meslier, a French priest who was secretly an Atheist. He wrote a book-length essay denouncing religion that was discovered when he died. The essay was described as his testament, so it became a book named Testament. I used to be an Agnostic but after reading his book I became an Atheist. Meslier's work influenced people like Michel Onfray and Voltaire, however, Voltaire twisted Meslier's book and wrote a different version to promote his deist views, which made me lose a lot of respect for him.

Besides Meslier, some others include FDR, Abraham Lincoln, MLK, Daryl Davis, Bernie Sanders, Kyle Kulinski, Thaddeus Stevens, and Vermin Supreme.
Vermin Supreme could be considered a political figure as he has ran for president repeatedly so he is on my list as well.

While Richard Dawkins laid the groundwork for my eventual conversion to atheism through pure facts and logic, contemporary atheist philosopher Andre Comte-Sponville relied on spirituality and the feel-good factor in his book, "The Book of Atheist Spirituality". I've been an atheist ever since. Prior to that, I was a deeply spiritual New Age believer for much of my teenage life. Prior to that, I was an agnostic.

Almost forgot to mention Jerry John Rawlings, former president and communist dictator-turned-democratic socialist of Ghana. A few years after the democratically-elected Ghanaian government was overthrown in a military coup, Rawlings, a young, idealistic, left-leaning army officer, escaped political captivity, led a counter-coup, and toppled the corrupt, neoliberal dictatorship, publicly executing many of its top leaders in the process. He was responsible for preventing Ghana from sliding into total economic ruin and keeping the country barely afloat where other countries in the region would've imploded entirely.

While he initially governed as somewhat of a socialist or communist dictator, he later promulgated a constitution, restored multiparty democracy, and won two elections as President of Ghana, with his second election to office being deemed totally free and fair by international observers. He laid the groundwork for Ghana's continued democratic political development and steady economic growth, a process that continues to this day in Ghana under successive administrations from both major political parties. Thanks to Rawlings, Ghana is now the envy of the developing world with its highly-developed democratic institutions and civil society and its stable economy. If only my country was led by someone like Rawlings who could simply sweep the corrupt political establishment to one side and bring its leaders to justice, promulgating a new constitution in the process and presiding over the rebirth of the nation. Rawlings is exactly the kind of strong, principled leader that Malaysia needs right now.

[The Archbishopric of York]

This list could get very long, especially if I extended it to include pre-modern monarchs, so I'm going to try to stick to the figures who have had the most direct influence on my present political outlook. In roughly chronological order, Aristotle, Confucius, 16th century Anglican priest and theologian Richard Hooker, 17th century Japanese samurai and philosopher Yamamoto Tsunetomo, 18th century High Tory author Samuel Johnson, the politician, philosopher and founding father of modern Anglophone conservatism Edmund Burke, Savoyard aristocrat and philosopher Joseph, comte de Maistre, English poet and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge, German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, British Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, British philosopher Michael Oakeshott, German chancellor Konrad Adenauer and British politician Enoch Powell. Honourable mention to Fyodor Dostoevsky who was not strictly speaking a political figure but nonetheless had a significant influence on my views through his works.

[Imperial Majapahit]

There's quite a lot, but here's the few that I can name right away:
Sukarno, Mohammad Hatta, and Sutan Sjahrir (Indonesia), Josip Broz Tito (Yugoslavia), Otto von Bismarck (Germany), Carl G.E. Mannerheim (Finland), John F. Kennedy (USA), Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Seretse Khama (Botswana), Bhumibol Adulyadej (Thailand), and Nelson Mandela (S. Africa).

B.J. Habibie, 3rd Indonesian President who took over after the fall of the world's most corrupt dictator, President Suharto. Guy actually have an IQ of 200, is a brilliant aerospace engineer, solved the brutal 1997 Asian Financial Crisis in like a year, prevented the balkanization of Indonesia, pioneered regional decentralization, turned a hopelessly corrupt military dictatorship into a democratic republic, but was then booted out of office and disgraced by the corrupt parliament after he allowed East Timor to gain independence (after 20 years of brutal Indonesian subjugation that left 100.000 dead). His love life with his wife, Ainun, is also a great and touching romance story that had been made into books and films.

Wonderful pick. It's a shame he didn't receive the support he truly deserved from that one faction within Golkar.

[Risottia]

Uhm.

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, Gaius Sempronius Gracchus, Marcus Ulpius Traianus, Niccolò Machiavelli, Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre, Giuseppe Mazzini, Vladimir Ilic Uljanov (Lenin), Rosa Luxemburg, Antonio Gramsci, Alessandro (Sandro) Pertini, Enrico Berlinguer.

[The Thestral Directorate]

Fukuzawa Yukichi. The father of modern Japan. He was a scholar who advocated for social and institutional reform in Japan, leaving a lasting influence during the Meiji period. While he was largely against the colonization and imperialism of the US and Europe, he also encouraged the modernization of Japanese society and introduced and translated many Western works into Japanese. He also founded Keio University, one of the first Japanese universities to study the Western sciences. In many ways, his advocacy for a secular, modern, and democratic Japanese society is similar to that of Benjamin Franklin. Sadly, Japan originally did not become the democratic state Yukichi had wished for – the Japanese government favored the German system of government with centralized, top-down power managed by the state.

Sun Yat-Sen/Yixian. The founder of the Republic of China. He was responsible for the Xinhai Rebellion which put an end to the Qing Dynasty, and much like Yukichi, wished to turn China into a modern, democratic state. One of his biggest legacies is his philosophy, the Three Principles (a united people, democracy, and welfare). Sun's political philosophy had some elements of socialism, and he was influenced by Henry George as well. His dream of a democratic China was thwarted by warlords and a bloody civil war after his death that led to the rise of the CCP. Sun's teachings do live on though, in the form of Taiwan.

Chen Duxiu. He was one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party, and was also a leading figure in the May Fourth Movement and the New Culture Movement. He founded the magazine New Youth, which encouraged the use of vernacular Chinese, the questioning of classical texts and philosophies, and the advocacy of a democratic China. Chen also spoke against the traditional patriarchal family system that dominated China at the time, and called for women's liberation and equal voting rights. New Youth encouraged many Chinese students to become politically involved. Despite being a communist, he was opposed to Lenin and advocated for a more democratic government, and supported Sun Yat-Sen. Unfortunately, he was overthrown and expelled from his own party, which gradually became more authoritarian in ideology under Mao Zedong.

[Kazakah]

Why?

Because he cut taxes and let the American economy simply flourish via laissez faire policies, resulting in one of the strongest periods of economic growth in the entire history of this country. He kept the nation at peace and stayed independent from foreign entanglements and was also an early advocate of civil rights, free immigration and racial equality.

Exactly! He was responsible for the Roaring 20s and made some major steps towards Native American citizenship.

[Socialist States of Ludistan]

Magrethe the first of Denmark. She created Scandinavia.

[Neuer Deutsches Reich]

Julius Caesar, Otto von Bismarck, Constantine XI, Pim Fortuyn, Churchill, Justinian I.
I am sure there are more if i think a bit

[The Emerald Legion]

Thomas Sarsfield Power.

[Stylan]

VI Lenin, Mao Zedong, Josef Stalin, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Guy Debord

Pretty much all of the Situationist International, which is funny because they were silly leftcoms.

Not entirely "political," but Jesus Christ. Christ comes before any politcal figure.

[Packyazies]

VI Lenin, Mao Zedong, Josef Stalin, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Guy Debord

Pretty much all of the Situationist International, which is funny because they were silly leftcoms.

Not entirely "political," but Jesus Christ. Christ comes before any politcal figure.

I worry your choices, mostly as 2 of them are the worlds biggest murderers

[Ansarre]

Bill Clinton, Henry Jackson, John Bolton, Winston Churchill, Angela Merkel, Paul Kagame, Seretse Khama, Lee Kuan Yew, and Benjamin Disraeli.

There's quite a lot, but here's the few that I can name right away:

Some good picks on this list!