In order to be considered for a leadership position within the United States government, candidates should have to answer the following essay questions before their name is permitted to be on the ballot.
1. Give four examples of leadership you have personally demonstrated. Describe, in 100 words for each of the four examples, (that’s 400 words) the most important leadership characteristic you possessed in each example. Explain why that characteristic is important.
2. Provide ten examples of leadership failure recorded throughout the history of the world. Explain how each failure could have been prevented.
3. Explain how you would respond to, recover from, prepare for and mitigate each of the following natural or man-made disasters:
- Tornado
- Oil Spill
- Famine
- Government Shutdown
Take your time, get it right. This is important to all of us.
We don’t care if candidates know how to grip and grin. They can learn that on the job. However, we should care if they have a basic knowledge of human anatomy. We should also care if they think it is acceptable to line their pockets with money from BigPharma while pushing an agenda to get 11 year old girls vaccinated by using scare tactics and a bully pulpit. Oh wait, that’s a Texas thing…nevermind.
Before Election Day, every citizen could visit a website such as WannaBeLeaders.com to review each candidate’s answers and choose the best qualified person for the job. Wow, what a concept! Voting stations could be available in every library across America for anyone who doesn’t own a digital device. Can you imagine voting online? No party affiliations? No campaign finance? No voter fraud? No hanging chads or mud-slinging ads?
People visiting libraries?!
Library of Congress
Concerned some states would get better representation? Produce smarter candidates? What if states had to compete for the smartest residents? What if states had to deliver better services to attract those smarter residents? What if state representatives from each political party had to office in a shared cubical?
Don’t like political parties? Host a voting party instead!
Questions? Suggestions?
Remember to vote in the next election cycle. It will be here before we know it.
Don’t forget the Great American Fake Out: Shutdown Showdown 2013!!
Honie Briggs 
Honie for President has a nice ring to it. You have the military background, the charisma, the intelligence and the take no BS attitude. I would vote for you! Heck I will move to Texas and vote for you all the way to the governors mansion. The one that turns pink at sunset.
Your confidence in me is, well, flattering. Politics isn’t my thing. I have no poker face, nor do I have tolerance for bloated egos. So, I think it’s better if I stick to doing what I do best. Now, what was that again?
Exactly. I am over poker faces. Poker faces haven’t brought us much in the way of positive change.
Outstanding (please include some of the suggestions from commenters like term limits, background checks….)
Can we please limit election campaigning to 2 weeks total? And stop the stupid “debates” that aren’t debates at all.
(and it’s not just girls in TX – now BigPharm is trying to insist both girls and boys must have vaccines – or the world will end…Please no run by Perry. He’s like Bush but not as smart…at least as gov we’ve been able to go up and yell at him easily to keep him in line…in DC they have all those darn barricades…but will of the people can move anything)
According to the Centers for Disease Control, HPV, human papillomavirus, is a sexually transmitted infection. Why do children need to be protected from a sexually transmitted infection? Are we to understand that children are sexually active? What about all that abstinence? Talk about mixed messages. Sex education anyone?
there are also concerns about some of the serious side effect and lack of long term testing.
As you say, this isn’t a virus like polio or a disease like whooping cough. Not something that runs up and attacks children.
Parenting, not shoving chemical solutions into young children.
All about the money – and forcing parents to give up control of their children…
Parents should be like Michelle O and seek healthy lives for their children: have then go outside and dig up a garden, plant and care for healthy veggies – then harvest them for dinners – and freely giving away all the excess veggies to those who are hungry – or invite them into the garden to help with the care and harvesting. No need for food to ever rot on the ground when so many are hungry here in this country. Especially on the White House lawn..that’s the People’s house, right. We should all go.
Good commonsense parenting requested
All wonderful ideas, Honie. Terms limits on every political position would be nice, too.
It does make one wonder what interests a career politician is serving when we observe such a lack of effectiveness. Maybe they are all having some sort of Britney Spears breakdown or Mel Gibson meltdown. Oh, or Tom Cruise couch hopping hysteria. That can happen to people when they’ve been in show business too long.
I believe we need to add just one or two things.
1) Background checks posted with applications
2) Credit checks posted with applications
3) 90 days of round table discussions with citizens posted to Citizen.com website for review (sort of like group interview sessions)
Other than that, I love your ideas! Fabulous.
Excellent suggestions, Val. Wouldn’t it be great if voters decided to demand better candidates? If we said to wannabe leaders, “represent us, our work, our BEST interests or go be a greeter at WalMart or get a job as an internet ad clicker. I think Zuckerberg is looking for some lackeys to patrol his compound, go work for him!”
I wish you could hear the giggle that just emerged. 🙂
It’s an artful thing to deliver a message in 100 words. Our greatest leaders did it clearly in words we will always remember. Let me add another “C” to common sense. Clarity.
Oh, yes Georgette. Excellent word, clarity. I would add credible and consistent to the qualities of a valuable message. Sadly, the consistent message coming from our government isn’t a positive one. Clearly we need new leadership. But even more, we need new guidelines for choosing leaders. The problem of throwing the babies out with the bathwater is that by doing so, we lose a great deal of experience. Starting over with a fresh batch without making sure they have the right qualifications is a bit like trying to bake a cake with dirt and spit. What you end up with is a mud pie.
Great post, Honie. I would change the part about being smart to common sense. I worked with people who had a 4.0 GPA in college who couldn’t tie their own shoe. We need people who have the ability reason and get things done.
Hey Russell! Thanks for checking out a non-FF post. I see your point about smart vs common sense. The only thing is…it isn’t as common as it used to be. Time for us to wise up, aye? 😉 To me, smart people are the ones who dare to think for themselves. I’m so glad you stopped by this morning.
You had an instant “Like” from me for the title alone.
I’ve always wondered why we don’t approach the filling of governmental positions more like an employee hiring process — they submit applications, they undergo interviews, they’re subjected to testing (your simple but incisive design here will do), they prove they can function without others holding their hand or leading them by the bridle, and then all of us voters go back to our huddles and really compare candidates on the qualities most relevant to the job. No ads, no campaigning, no political parties successfully convincing everyone that supporting them is exactly like supporting a really cool sports team.
This will never happen, but it works so gloriously whenever I daydream about it.
Yes, a job interview. Can you imagine if you applied for a job by attacking the other candidates?
Maybe if the job were Hunger Games Event Coordinator…
Great idea, if only it could be imposed in this universe. No confidence it could ever be applied to this reality we face, now. Maybe.
What can I say? I’m a dreamer. 😀
Well what can I say? Keep sharing your dreams and give people pause to think.
That would be a wonderful thing, for sure. Of course, there’s no guarantee they would remain good leaders who have the public’s interest at heart once those lobbyists start sniffing around and corporations start lining their pockets…
True, true, Carrie. There would definitely be other matters to attend to.