May 2, 2011

Politicians should have a one page, evidence-based (fully cited) position paper that outlines their stance on every major or minor but controversial issue pertinent to their office. It should include:

1. Commentary on chosen ethical foundation underlying the stance.
2. Table outlining the assumed pros/cons of the stance in bullet point form side-by-side.
3. Short analysis of their stance and all major alternate stances which incorporate relevant social, economic, psychological, historical, and political information.
4. 1-10 rating and commentary describing how strongly they hold the stance.
5. Commentary providing full disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest they may have.
6. Link to every other position paper they’ve written, including previous versions of the current paper with changes clearly highlighted and commentary explaining the changes

Digital versions should be clickable to immediately see expanded versions of each section.

Each position paper should be handed out during any public speech when a question pertinent to it is asked. The politician should give the condensed answer verbally and then could say, “Please reserve your judgments until you’ve read my position paper.”

A link to that paper should immediately be digitally distributed to anyone nearby listening in. A paper version should immediately be made available, as well. Interviews, speeches, rallies, and other public functions should become symbolic rituals for position paper dissemination.

Politicians should also have a personal brief describing them as a candidate. It should include:

1. IQ score: intelligence quotient.
2. EQ score: emotional intelligence quotient.
3. SQ score: social intelligence quotient.
4. EthQ score: proposed “ethical quotient” which consists of surprise ecologically valid tests over one year conducted by independent ethical auditor.
5. DQ score: proposed “decision-making quotient” where important professional decisions are tracked (including context, rationale, and desired outcome for each decision) for five years and assessed based off of actual outcome by independent decision auditor.
6. Policy competency score: proposed timed, closed-book policy decision exam of 100 case studies from history, plausible futures, and across different cultures and political systems.
7. Full CV and life accomplishments portfolio.

This brief should be publicly available to everyone.