What qualities makes someone a “good” politician for you?

18 comments

1. There are 3 core attributes that are necessary to secure my vote. Many political scientists, myself among them, call these attributes “Valjean’s Key Electability Components”. They are as follows:

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   1. Ability to hit the griddy consistently, and without fail. Should a politician be called upon to face a hostile leader in a dance battle, he (or she, of course) must be able to answer that call. The civil rights act of 1964 owes its passage to the inability of Strom Thurmond to successfully hit the griddy.
   2. They must have been convicted of a respectable number of petty theft charges. Someone with no petty theft charges has no connection with the working class, and someone with too many (generally more than 35 in a calendar decade) is simply displaying poor impulse control.
   3. Must be able to fit a government standard sized bag of gummy worms in his mouth in a dignified manner. The benefits of this are as self evident as they are crucial.

2. I prefer not to use the word “good”. It carries a moral connotation that I believe to be counterproductive. We should elect politicians based on competence, not morality.

   But alas, elections nowadays are all about who a candidate is and how “electable” they are instead of how competent they have proven themselves to be. This goes for all parties and target demographics btw.

   In my opinion, a leader should have a vision and then compel his constituents to follow him in that vision. Most politicians nowadays don’t even have any stance whatsoever. Their position on any given topic is whatever the surveys say the most popular stance is.

   We elect followers of opinion polls and then complain about the poor quality of our leaders.

3. . . . Not corrupt. Sounds like a low bar but you can convince me a single world leader at least since 1992 has not been corrupt. Probably closer to 1950s.

4. Isn’t paid by special interests and supports quality public transportation.

5. There are no good politicians.

6. Honesty and consistency. I don’t have to agree with you but if you have those you’re good

7. Minimal impact and an early grave.

8. They agree with my policy positions and aren’t corrupt.

   Generally I have to settle for they agree with my policy positions and are corrupt.

9. I think I heard it best described in a tweet, “Time to remember the best voting advice I ever heard: voting isn’t marriage, it’s public transport. You’re not waiting for “the one” who’s absolutely perfect: you’re getting the bus, and if there isn’t one to your destination, you don’t not travel- you take the one going closest.” [tweet](https://twitter.com/DebbieBMoon/status/1189288265901326336?s=20&t=JRMELagdDaQXy10ttqAv6Q)

10. Transparency and communication are big for me, and showing up for the job to represent the best interests of their constituents, regardless of how those people voted. Not completely abandoning the minority vote for their district. Being more than just completely partisan.

    That’d be ideal to me. I can see someone as a “good politician” and respect them even if they’re not entirely aligned with my political alignment. I’ll vote for multiple parties in a given election if I feel like someone really is by far the better person for the job.

    Jeff Jackson is honestly the only politician that has ever stood out to me as, “This guy seems authentic and legit.” Been following him for a good few years now in NC.

11. Don’t be embarrassing and don’t actively roll rights backwards

12. Honesty

13. A dead one

14. A desire to govern as little as possible.

15. having opinions and beliefs that I agree with

16. Conviction is a start. It’s why fans of Bernie Sanders are so loyal, dudes been fighting for the same causes since the 80s. He’s one of the very few politicians that’ll tell you how fucked our country is and tell you what we need to do to be better

17. Agreeing with me and not being a massive idiot/dick.

18. At this point, I would settle for anyone that isn’t immediately mired in scandals.