Choosing good candidates - Part 1
Criteria and ideas
It is time to move away from financial topics to address an issue that is coming up. In less than 10 months we will be electing political authorities until 2029. These decisions of who, and for what, are very important. Especially in a country where talent, experience and integrity are rare virtues.
Traditionally, the candidate selection process has been limited to relationships and subjective sympathies. This lightness has produced very debatable results, both in terms of the profile of the elected candidate and the very dubious results of his or her management.
Taking for granted that the electoral system is far from being balanced and impartial, citizens, particularly those with above-average education and life experience, are called upon to exercise a vote and an influence to try to decide well. Well, meaning, the right person for the position to be filled.
About 12 years ago, Fundación Libertad, with the immense collaboration of Carlos Alberto Montaner (RIP), structured a set of criteria and categories to identify and discern the qualities of a good candidate. The categories were elaborated without any illusion that they would become an electoral "Bible". Rather, the categories are intended to help those who use them to weigh factors, examine pros and cons, and articulate a more rational and objective process. Even if you later decide otherwise, the analysis can always help you evaluate the subsequent performance of those who were elected. In addition, introspection of the criteria and categories may help acquaintances and friends to think more objectively about the candidates, their qualities, values and experience.
Let us now look at the first group of categories related to the personal values of the applicants.
Honesty: In a country with a very low appreciation for propriety, honesty is an important category. We understand honesty to mean that whoever categorically rejects corruption and corruption schemes and is able to prosecute them to the full extent of the law.
Honesty: The candidate must also be honest, which is quite different. Honesty is being consistent with your promises and actions. Much political corruption comes not only from dishonesty but from dishonesty (falsehoods, half-truths) in their actions with respect to campaign promises and commitments in their work programs.
Integrity: The candidate must be consistent in what he/she believes, says and does. That his private and public actions must be related.
Firmness: Hence, the candidate must be able to reject illegal and unseemly insinuations and not be flattered by the flattery of sycophants and brushes.
Temperance: A candidate must have mettle, that is, be able to weigh the risks and benefits of his or her actions calmly and clearly.
Humility: A good leader should accept what he does not know or understand, not hesitate to ask for forgiveness and recognize the talents of friends and adversaries.
Compassion: May he feel the impulse to serve the underprivileged and be in solidarity with all, without expecting anything in return.
Sometimes it is difficult to separate what a person is and aspires to, from the way he acts and projects himself. So, there are criteria or categories to analyze these parameters, more characteristic of personality and temperament. These would be:
Prudence: That they know how to choose between good and evil, as the Romans defined prudence. Or, as is often suggested, to choose the best among the good options and rescue the least bad, when all of them are bad. And that happens a lot in politics.
Tolerance: It is a rare quality. It is to live with those or with those ideas that we do not share, in a respectful way and accepting that there is more than one truth. A tolerant politician or civil servant is necessary to generate consensus.
Self-confidence: Correct self-confidence presupposes that the candidate analyzes and weighs the options before him and acts with confidence and without hesitation. The one who feels sure of himself, only by divine inspiration or by his sense of smell, is a danger to society and to politics itself.
In the next installment we will analyze the categories that come from acquired skills, talent, experience and training.
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