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Can we get world leaders to work this way? How would they feel about signing up to this agreement?
I'm always curious about world affairs, and tend to follow news from a number of different countries in the world. And with very little exception I watch how distraction is used when governments want to pass controversial bills, how "divide and rule" seems the order of the day in keeping the populations of countries from making decisions that will create change. I watch how fear is used as a weapon, while at the same time, guilt is used just as much to make people swallow ideas or decisions that leave them feeling uncomfortable.
I think the world would be a better place with a few simple rules applied to those who run their countries:
1. You have to live as a normal civilian in that country. No special state homes, no divorce from reality, no isolation from the people.
2. Your kids have to go to state run schools. By sending your kids to private schools, you're effectively saying that there is a problem with the state school system and your kids deserve better. This is a flag to fix the school system.
3. You and your family should be obligated to use public health facilities and hospitals, no matter what type of medical treatment you may need. If you feel the need to go private, it means you need to look at the medical services the majority of the country rely on.
4. All ministers need to be openly accountable for their "promises to the voters". Like in any other company, you are set targets and objectives, and like any other company, the company that pays you has the right to see how you are performing. As the taxpayers are paying you, you need to be accountable to them.
5. You drive on normal roads, in normal cars. You use the same trains, planes, subways, buses as others, and you pay the same fares. Their job is as important to them as your job is to you. Their time, and comfort, and ability to function in traffic or on public transport is your concern, not theoretically but through your practical experience.
6. People need to remember that the government is accountable to them. They elected you into power, and they believed your election promises. Don't think you can slip through the net and squirm out of things that were part of the reason behind them voting you into power.
7. The top ministers and leaders in the country should be willing to be interviewed live on television, at least once a month, answering questions posed to them by their public. They cannot avoid important questions, or send in junior members to deal with difficulties. If you want the job of running the country well, you can't avoid what doesn't suit you to hear.
8. The rules of the country are your rules too. Tax is tax. Accountability is accountability. Speed limits are yours as well as everyone else's. Fraud is a criminal offence, so is any form of corruption. Bribery is not allowed. When you take any actions or evade any responsibilities, always think what the country would be like if all citizens acted that same way. If the outcome would be detrimental to the county, then your behaviour is detrimental to the country too.
9. When you run a country it is your job to look after your people first. When doling out foreign aid, make sure that those who deserve and need help at home are fed, warm, educated, safe etc as well. If others do move to the country, which is inevitable, they adapt to your country, your country does not adjust its standards for them. As an immigrant myself I know that to live in my adopted country I take on its rules. If I want my old rules to apply, I can always return to my roots where those other rules apply.
10. Two terms maximum in any senior government position. Else you become stale. Let in the new blood.
11. Your populace do not owe you loyalty and respect, you have to earn their loyalty and respect. They want you to succeed in your governing and if you hold yourself accountable and show loyalty and respect to your fellow countrymen, you will receive it in return.
12. And lastly, whenever leadership is being handed over, their has to be a handing over process. Nobody gets to cut and run and leave the next group to fix the problems you caused. You integrate the new person into the job, you reveal the state of all things that are current in your department or in your country, and you hand over the reins with the same system as is used by senior businesspeople in big companies. At least a three month hand-over period is obligatory.
Does anyone else feel this way?
