Acceptability, Electability, Competence

At the risk of making yet another political post…

Leonard Stark, in his book “Choosing a Leader”, suggests that candidates be evaluated on three specific criteria: acceptability, electability and competence. That is to say that they should be ideologically acceptable to their parties, capable of winning elections and able to implement their policy objectives.

Based on those criteria, I would like to know how you view the current crop of presidential candidates. Objectively, please – you might think Trump is a schmuck, you might think Clinton is untrustworthy, you might just not like someone’s hair, but those aren’t what I want to hear. How are they on acceptability, electability and competence?

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Let’s make a deal

So it sounds like the people in support of this US-Iran deal are saying that if we don’t do it we’re running the risk of Iran developing a nuclear weapon. The people in opposition are saying that if we DO go through with it, we’re running the risk of Iran developing a nuclear weapon.

So… If we’re running that risk either way, and we’ve seen that there’s nothing to be gained from the status quo – why don’t we give them a chance to prove that their intentions are good?

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Austerity isn’t helping

So… Help me out here. I’m trying to come up with a good reason for the EU’s approach to Greece over the last five years.

How exactly do these austerity measures help anyone? I’ve heard people comparing it to trimming the household budget in order to afford your car payment. But if that’s your analogy, you need to look again. The car has long since been repossessed, and the household budget is at a point where the family is having to decide which of the kids to eat.

You can’t grow something by keeping your boot down on its head and yelling at it to grow. You grow it by feeding it.

Greece can be a valuable member of the EU, and of the Euro currency, if the other member countries would only take their damn boot off its head and instead try to feed it. And yes, Germany can allow Greece some debt relief here in recompense for the fact that their measures over the last five years have made the situation worse instead of better.

Enough with this austerity crap already.

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