As in other parts of the world, trust in Australian politicians seems to have been declining. I’ve read surveys and articles on this, and it has been apparent in many of the people I have interacted with since it was realised by many of those who were duped by the neoliberalism scam that they were scammed - and by those harmed by other matters since then.
I don't want to try to get in to the details of that here - I don’t have the time or energy, but I do want to summarise, in one convenient point, what I consider candidates for my home state’s election later this year and our next national election should consider to demonstrate to voters that - IRRESPECTIVE of their policies - they are decent and worthwhile candidates.
These are IN ADDITION TO existing legal electoral and party requirements, NOT instead of or as a substitute for.
- Do online surveys (or get a professional psychological assessment) on the strength of the candidate’s propensity towards psychology’s “Dark Triad” characteristics of psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellism, and authoritarianism, and publish the results (a genuine summary would be OK) on a website where they will be available throughout the election process.
Similarly, unmanaged unconscious bias - which we all have, but many authoritarians refuse to acknowledge that, making them more likely to be bigots, and those with Dark Triad problems would seek to misuse those characteristics - particularly in others.
The intention here is to show what people are actually like - there is a lot of gaslighting BS about "character checks" that, in reality, are only detection-of-found-and-publicly-punished*-criminality checks - which say NOTHING about whether the person would be a bigot, or a power hungry manipulator, or has any of the anti-democratic tendencies of authoritarians.
This would require an explanation on all those websites, written by a psychologist who both understands the shortcomings of those surveys/assessments and the preconceptions/misconceptions/predilections towards unfair biases of the general public, and the vitally important need to find a way to demonstrate quality of character that is OUTSIDE the existing systems.
Where characteristics are present to a concerning extent, prepare and publish a plan for managing those characteristics.
This MUST ONLY EVER BE VOLUNTARY.
* some convictions are not recorded - To minimise vulnerability to lobbying influences and public passions of the day, commit to serve only for one term.
This means good candidates would not serve consecutive terms, would not get Parliamentary pensions, etc, but I doubt there is only one decent person is each electorate who is interested in running for Parliament.
(I would accept an exception to this if the candidate becomes a government Minister.) - Show respect for the personal agency of voters by giving them (at ALL stages of life - in schools, and as adults) the tools (particularly critical thinking and an understanding of rhetoric) to avoid scams, identify misinformation/disinformation in the media, better manage AI slop, and be better able to assess political messaging.
- Avoid conflicts of interest by not debating or voting on any housing affordability/availability matter if the candidate has an investment residential property, and seek to prevent others doing so.
Possible flaws
Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:
- there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”;
- I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
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Remember: we generally need to be more human being rather than human doing, to mind our Mӕgan, and to acknowledge that all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk & accept that all insistence on the use of “trans” as a descriptor comes with commensurate use of “cis” as a descriptor to prevent “othering” (just as binary gendered [men’s and women’s] sporting teams are either both given the gender descriptor, or neither).
#PsychicABetterWorld and may all that I do be of value and actively BPM used for and by the nonphysical BPM because #KindnessIsThePoint
Note that I am cutting back on aspects of my posts - see here, and Gnwmythr is pronounced new-MYTH-ear
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