Quote:What skills does a politician actually need?
They need management skills. In any other industry, that puts them at the top of the slaary scale.
Nice, if they have them (management skills), but not necessary. What are they managing other than getting re-elected. Leave the management up to the bureaucracy, the public servants.
Quote:Other than competant polling of his electorate to find out how his/her electorate require them to vote on any issue before the house.
That is not what politicians do. The whole point of our electoral system is that it allows people to let politicians make their decisions for them. There is a lot that politicians do that people never hear about, unless they stuff up badly.
But this is what they should do. That's it. They should have an ability to debate a subject sensibly and have a good general knowledge in a variety of area's such as science, history, social science, economics etc etc. And that is the really scary part, the decisions they make in my name and on my behalf, secretly. I think most people would rather be polled and represented. Currently most people probably feel that polling is a complete waste of time. That's because it largely is. Politicians vote largely to suit themselves and their parties.
Quote:Our education system should aim for this as a minimum: that graduation from high school level is adequate for ANY in the general population to capably represent their community
Do we want someone who is merely capable, or do we want the best?
If being a politician is so easy, why does everyone keep complaining that they can't do it right? It smacks of tall poppy syndrome. People don't want to admit that being a politician requires valuable skills that they lack.
I'll take capable, from as large an experience pool as meets the requirements rather than the professional politician. The two party system is a complete rort. It seems that the BEST are those that are most able to continue the charade of representation while convincing us that they have our interests at heart. If they really did, there would be far more united decisions made for the good of the country.