“The punishment wise men suffer, who refuse to take part in government, is to suffer under a government of worse men.” - Plato
And consider:
“If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.” - Aristotle
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” - Thomas Paine
“In America, anyone can become President, and that’s just the risk you take.” - Will Rogers
“In 1929 the wise, far-seeing electors of my native Hereford sent me to Westminster and, two years later, the lousy bastards kicked me out.” - Frank Owen
“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others which have been tried from time to time.” - Winston Churchill
“Democracy is more than two wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner.” – James Bovard
To hold political office means becoming a public figure. I’m not about to give up my cherished privacy. I don’t like the idea of people poking into my background, making critical (but not considered slanderous) comments about me, distorting my record, etc.
I live in the district of the only avowed atheist in Congress, so I can’t use this excuse.
My problem is that I have a terrible memory for faces, and would probably not recognize the guy who just gave me a bunch of money. I also don’t like cocktail parties very much.
I have worked for a few campaigns (all losers, I’m happy to say) so if I had time for politics that’s the way I’d go.
I just want to say that I think the ‘I don’t believe in God’ excuse to be, well, lame. Unless you are going to wear your atheism as a badge and plan to beat people over the head with it I don’t think it would really be a factor. No candidate comes out and says “I’m into adultery and plan to scrump anything in a skirt that moves” after all, and yet many of them do this. No candidate gives a speech saying “Special interests? Bring on the MOOOLAH!” either, yet some do it anyway.
Being an atheist is only a bar if you are silly enough to run in a heavily religious state and come right out and tell everyone your thoughts on the subject. Myself, if I were stupid enough to run for office, I’d simply focus my campaign on other issues and if directly asked I’d calmly tell the reporter asking to go fuck themselves…but in a diplomatic way, of course. Well…probably not, which only further highlights my own unsuitability for public office.
See, I would love for people like you to run. (You pretty much have my mom’s stance on those issues. :)) The media want us to think that the opposite position on each of those issues is the “moderate” take.
The honest answer for me, and I would wager for just about everyone else, is “I would lose.” It would take a lot of time & money & I know next to nothing about politics other than my half-assed armchair analysis. I’m sure people look at political work and think “Anyone could do this!” but I would imagine the devil is in the details and when you see what actually goes in to getting elected, most of us would fall short.
The expected utility of my victory less the costs of candidacy is strictly less than the expected utility I would get from almost any other candidate winning. It’s much more efficient just to let someone else run who has a good chance of winning, who has to foot the bill himself, and whose policy preferences aren’t all that different from mine. I don’t run for office because I prefer to free ride where possible, just like everyone else.
If Lyndon LaRouche were running for Tyrant unopposed, the above condition would obviously fail and I would be handing out flyers on the subway. I would further hope my political enemies don’t manage to dig up my Bar Mitzvah video or something equally humiliating.
Aside from that, aside from being male, white, straight, and still having all my limbs and most of my faculties, pretty much everything about me separately and individually makes me unelectable, much less when taken in combination. Particularly here in Idaho.
I have considered it, and I would not be a bad fit where I live. However, I spent some time as the head of the local soccer youth group. During that time I was reminded that around 10% of y’all SUCK. Unfortunately, that 10% takes up an inordinate amount of time just to keep quiet enough so that real work can be done. If I went into politics, sooner or later that 10% would be calling to request / complain / agitate / etc. I would be forced to either be nice to everyone, or finally tell someone to piss up a rope.
I would be happy to serve, and I have considered it as a final career, once my sons are out of college. But I will have to have a good strategy for dealing with some of the idiots out there.
Perhaps but I have a moral duty to improve society and the human condition and I say “d*** the press.” In fact were I president I would give special privileges (for example interviews) to decent news sources like PBS NewsHour or BBC.
I see you’re practising your censorship skills already.
And I don’t run for office because A) I wasn’t born here and as soon as that comes out I’ve got no chance of being elected (the last NZer who ended up as Premier of QLD turned the place into a police state), I tend to be fairly anti-“Trendy” things like caring about the environment, and I think Imperialism and Colonialism were (and could still be) good things.
Realistically, the only way I would have any chance of being elected as an independent (because I don’t really like any of the main political parties) would be to run as a candidate in some remote Outback electorate that encompasses an area the size of Belgium but only has something like 20,000 people in it. And even then, I’d be running against the incumbent, so I’d still have no chance because the incumbents in ultra-rural electorates tend to be fairly well known and have a lot of support, especially if they’ve been doing a good job for any length of time.
These days? That will get you votes from the right and the left. And probable most of the center as well.
I have thought about it. But I am not a people person, and I do not suffer fools well. Plus I am a Democrat in a very Red part of Ohio.
A couple of years ago, a young woman ran here in this district for State Representative. She grew up here, went to high school here, and moved back here when she got out of college. But she was a conservative Democrat and couldn’t even win the town she grew up in, never mind the entire district. I can’t remember the last time we actually had to have a primary for Democrats for local offices. It is usually a surprise if even one runs for an office.