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Sadly, stupid politicians are a problem in every democracy. The only way to resolve it is to incentivise more intelligent/knowledgeable people to go into politi

Sadly, stupid politicians are a problem in every democracy. The only way to resolve it is to incentivise more intelligent/knowledgeable people to go into politics, but how? The best motivation for going into politics is probably patriotism, wanting to change things for the better etc. But then people we would want in politics, unless they are already wealthy, would have to take a substantial pay cut if they "went into politics". I can mostly speak for my own country (Poland) where a typical salary of a member of Parliament is in the region of €2.5k per month,plus another up to €2k to run an office(but they spend it on employing someone to run the office). The Prime minister of a 40mln people country gets €3k per month. That's the entry level salary in IT in the bigger cities here. So only people in the following categories go into politics: "really passionate", wealthy already, is interested in political science/can't do anything else better paid anyway(such person usually has a degree in philosophy or history), someone who loves having power over others, someone hoping for a chance to earn money on corruption(illegal or semi-legal). It is no surprise amongst such group there is a lack of knowledge and no incentive to understand topics like encryption. That's why I'm very strongly for increasing the salaries in politics(it's a very unpopular opinion here in PL). It it not a solution to all problems, but it is definitely a requirement IMO.

rcMgD2BwE72F 3y ago
>Sadly, stupid politicians are a problem in every democracy. Are they actually stupid or do they just play dumb to better serve the interest of their main backers (or supposed audience)?
seanw444 3y ago
I've thought the same, but in the end it doesn't give us enough of the people that want to make positive change. People with good ideas and motivations overwhelmingly succeed in the private sector. In democracy, they get held back and waste their time. Whether they consciously think it or not, democracy is a big reason potential good politicians don't participate in democracy. So like I said, increasing salaries doesn't do enough to shift this balance. Increasing it enough to shift the balance will shift it in the wrong direction: people who are only in it for the money will flock to political positions. And then we have the same ignorant fools again, but at a higher taxpayer expense. All I see on HN is people trying to come up with "material" frameworks for fixing our problems. It's all bandaid fixes. Actually no, it's bandaids on a slashed artery. Morality and wisdom is in rapid decay. The only true way to fix that at the source is to have strong families again, but that's unpopular now. They've incentivized dissolving families, disincentivized starting healthy families, ruined our attention spans, destroyed proper sexuality (one of our biggest motivators for anything), convinced us that violence is never appropriate, and they've brainwashed us so well that we beg for more of all of it. And as a result, we're likely doomed to fail.
sarthak-ag 3y ago
I think people who view entering into politics as just another job and only ever look at it from the lens of salary are never suited to be one in the first place. I can guarantee you they would never be able to become one even if they tried. The real hurdle is that elections are very taxing, and highly gated (if you are at all serious about winning). You almost always need to associate with a political party first, but then most political parties field candidates by seniority. No matter how much qualified you may well be, at the end it all boils down to how much you can convince people of your constituency, all of whom are irrational, and are looking out for their own personal gains rather than country's future as a whole. Majority is not interested in hearing your very technical argument on how you would solve their problems, and guess what majority is what you need to win the election.

rcMgD2BwE72F 3y ago

>Sadly, stupid politicians are a problem in every democracy. Are they actually stupid or do they just play dumb to better serve the interest of their main backers (or supposed audience)?

seanw444 3y ago

I've thought the same, but in the end it doesn't give us enough of the people that want to make positive change. People with good ideas and motivations overwhelmingly succeed in the private sector. In democracy, they get held back and waste their time. Whether they consciously think it or not, democracy is a big reason potential good politicians don't participate in democracy. So like I said, increasing salaries doesn't do enough to shift this balance. Increasing it enough to shift the balance will shift it in the wrong direction: people who are only in it for the money will flock to political positions. And then we have the same ignorant fools again, but at a higher taxpayer expense. All I see on HN is people trying to come up with "material" frameworks for fixing our problems. It's all bandaid fixes. Actually no, it's bandaids on a slashed artery. Morality and wisdom is in rapid decay. The only true way to fix that at the source is to have strong families again, but that's unpopular now. They've incentivized dissolving families, disincentivized starting healthy families, ruined our attention spans, destroyed proper sexuality (one of our biggest motivators for anything), convinced us that violence is never appropriate, and they've brainwashed us so well that we beg for more of all of it. And as a result, we're likely doomed to fail.

sarthak-ag 3y ago

I think people who view entering into politics as just another job and only ever look at it from the lens of salary are never suited to be one in the first place. I can guarantee you they would never be able to become one even if they tried. The real hurdle is that elections are very taxing, and highly gated (if you are at all serious about winning). You almost always need to associate with a political party first, but then most political parties field candidates by seniority. No matter how much qualified you may well be, at the end it all boils down to how much you can convince people of your constituency, all of whom are irrational, and are looking out for their own personal gains rather than country's future as a whole. Majority is not interested in hearing your very technical argument on how you would solve their problems, and guess what majority is what you need to win the election.