Many (most?) politicians were traditionally (at least partly) motivated by public service, so we perhaps should consider how to reinvigorate and reinforce that.
One possibility might be to specifically improve pathways into politics from sectors that still have high levels of public service motivation - eg. the civil service, judiciary, NGOs, civil infrastructure, education.
There are likely plenty of other approaches to help balance out the pure power-seekers too, so let's work out what they are and follow as many as possible rather than encouraging fatalism.
> high levels of public service motivation - eg. the civil service, judiciary, NGOs, civil infrastructure, education.
Many of these are mostly known for harbouring activists, not public servants. They serve a cause, not the public and as such are just as unsuitable for politics as the usual suspects.
Just because many people think they mostly harbor activists, doesn't mean that it's true. I regularly see people getting called "activists" or "ideologues" because they serve the public instead of whatever causes their detractors want to advance.
Yes - reflexively denigrating anyone who's not motivated by interests that align with their own as an "activist" is likely one of the reasons why politics has become degraded in the way that it has.
Yep, same goes for "ideologue" etc. IMO such thought-terminating cliches are a mind virus: ~10-15 years ago I noticed some people frequently using them in discussions. Today, these people are largely incapable of staying calm while listening to any opposing views, no matter the topic!
(EDIT: After posting, I had the idea below)
My best explanation would be: just like TikTok is harmful to our attention span, thought-terminating cliches are harmful to our tolerance for complexity.
N_Lens · · focus · HN ↗
We are forever doomed to be ruled by those worse than us, for the simple reason that reasonable people don't seek power.
roryirvine · · focus · HN ↗
One possibility might be to specifically improve pathways into politics from sectors that still have high levels of public service motivation - eg. the civil service, judiciary, NGOs, civil infrastructure, education.
There are likely plenty of other approaches to help balance out the pure power-seekers too, so let's work out what they are and follow as many as possible rather than encouraging fatalism.
Leonard_of_Q · · focus · HN ↗
Many of these are mostly known for harbouring activists, not public servants. They serve a cause, not the public and as such are just as unsuitable for politics as the usual suspects.
Timon3 · · focus · HN ↗
roryirvine · · focus · HN ↗
Timon3 · · focus · HN ↗
(EDIT: After posting, I had the idea below)
My best explanation would be: just like TikTok is harmful to our attention span, thought-terminating cliches are harmful to our tolerance for complexity.