Just skipping around and tossing out thoughts, like a flower girl tossing white rose petals at a wedding
Sorry, been reading too many Omni posts.
For example I can see that regardless of any failings, Bush is likely personable and well intentioned, and extremely loyal. I have to respect that about him. Heck its probably why I favored him over Gore in 2000.
I don't think I'd call this "respect". Or, if you wanted to call this "respect", then I'd agree with your comment
Perhaps there are different types of respect.
The kind of "respect" you talk about above, and what I wouldn't call respect, is a situation where you make a judgement about a person. Above, you judge some qualities of Bush to be good, so you say you'd "respect" them. I'd just say, I like them and think they're good.
OK, on second thought... I might use the word respect. Especially for someone who is older, and who I think has qualities that I aspire to. I do think this is a very different use of the word "respect."
The other kind of respect, the one I think that is relevant here, is all about two things: behavior, and lack of judgement. To me, respect means you give a person some kind of honorable treatment not because of your own judgement, but because of the position of that person. Either they are held in high esteem to somebody that matters (i.e. girlfriend, parent, colleague), or they hold a position for which some social norms of respectful behavior have been established (often about power!).
I think the first type of respect is not important for positions of power, but the second is. There are usually well-established social norms for how to treat people in power, how to go about having your voice listened to, etc. Sure, sometimes you have to work outside the social systems... but normally, it is important to work within those boundaries.
Intriguingly its a respect that does not lead to any sense of authority for that person. Like he could be a neighbor, but I wouldn't want him captain of my team.
He's the president of the United States. If you don't treat him with respect, there's all sorts of problems. For example, if too many people don't go through the proper channels to be heard, then it's likely that they simply get tuned out; the president is a busy guy. If you ridicule him, then you show outsiders that we have weak support within our own country, that we're not working united. If you throw tomatos at him, you simply distract the prez from doing real work, you distract the issues from what is important, and add no value.
We shake hands. Or bow. Or offer a gift. And dress nicely, and speak in a certain way. All to show our willingness to work together. We use protocols to communicate our willingness to work together constructively. A lack of respect without purpose is a dangerous thing.
A lack of respect due to a failure to succeed through proper channels is a different story. I guess that's what your OP is about, and I guess that's really what I should be addressing. But I wrote enough for now, so ... back to work.
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