Thread: Characteristics of Politicians

I have a convoluted chain of thought leading into this one. I was reading about a recent Canadian political decision to deny British MP George Galloway entry into Canada. This was a decision done by the Minister of Immigration, Jason Kenney, who sets the laws for who is allowed into Canada. The reason for denying Galloway entrance, on the official level, is that he is seen as openly supporting a terrorist group from when he directly led a humanitarian convoy through Gaza. On a slightly more subtle level, it's more because the Canadian government right now is a Conservative government that is hanging on precariously to power - over two elections, they still only have a minority government.

So, realizing that this move is a crass political push to keep unwanted ideologues out of the country (which is anathema to democracy), I started to go over my long list of why I don't like Stephen Harper and the way he runs his government, but this quickly shifted into: What characteristics make a good politician?

This is what I would like the topic of the week to be about - list for me the realistic aspects you would like to see in your members of local government, and on a federal level.

For myself, I would like to see, mostly, statesmanship. Politics, in Canada, has recently become more and more an undiguised power mongering culture. Harper is ruthless, carries a grudge and will make very obvious, blatent political power moves without real thought of the consequences. A very obvious example of this is his prorogation of the House of Commons as an abuse of a political tool to avoid a potential loss of his government.

This isn't to say that I don't understand why he would do this, it's more a matter of what led him to that position in the first place. He consistently pushed through bills that were offensive to the other parties, with the ultimatum of "Do it, or I'll force an election." When the election came, nothing changed (I believe 4 seats got changed, or maybe 7) and he still attempted his heavy-handed style of ruling by giving an economic update that was unacceptable to the other parties, as signing it would bankrupt them.

This isn't the kind of political play I want to see in my country. We're a nation sitting on vast natural resources, and instead of developing the country itself and improving our position, the major players in Canadian politics are scrambling for scraps of power and slapping their opponents with it. It is, in my eyes, unprofessional.

As sad as it sounds, really I just want to see someone with some class come into office, and be good and passionate about what they're doing. Where are the Washingtons and Roosevelts of today? Where is a second coming of Pierre Trudeau? Where is the demonstration that those in office understand their responsiblities and actively work towards them? Well, that is enough of my naive ranting on politics.

So, I'll restate the heart of this thread: Describe the characteristics you see as intrinsic to a good politician. If you want, apply these to real-world politicians in your area and compare and contrast.