You could implement this today. Found a leadership PAC called ‘Smarter Government’, use big data to identify the set of people who are the correct age and meet residency requirements for the office the PAC is pursuing, send them all phone calls asking if they’re interested in elected office, administer the battery of tests, provide the lucky winner with 1-200k seed money from PAC donors and a competent staff.
I think the testing measures would have to include stuff other than straight IQ, because ultimately, this person has to win an election. Probably by any available means including deception and emotional appeal.
Unfortunately, that criteria is probably impossible to do away with completely. Much of the job of a politician requires positive action on the part of the office holder. ‘Does not want the job’ or ‘unwilling to perform the task if chosen’ is probably a disqualifying factor, so may as well select against it early in the process. Perhaps a question emphasizing community service (are you interested in taking on a significant responsibility in your community?) would work, but ultimately, it would be impossible to keep the screening process completely secret.
You could implement this today. Found a leadership PAC called ‘Smarter Government’, use big data to identify the set of people who are the correct age and meet residency requirements for the office the PAC is pursuing, send them all phone calls asking if they’re interested in elected office, administer the battery of tests, provide the lucky winner with 1-200k seed money from PAC donors and a competent staff.
I think the testing measures would have to include stuff other than straight IQ, because ultimately, this person has to win an election. Probably by any available means including deception and emotional appeal.
So you’re selecting people who want to be politicians again.
Unfortunately, that criteria is probably impossible to do away with completely. Much of the job of a politician requires positive action on the part of the office holder. ‘Does not want the job’ or ‘unwilling to perform the task if chosen’ is probably a disqualifying factor, so may as well select against it early in the process. Perhaps a question emphasizing community service (are you interested in taking on a significant responsibility in your community?) would work, but ultimately, it would be impossible to keep the screening process completely secret.