> The primary driver and motivation for politicians should be altruism, do good for the sake of it.
Any system that relies on people being good is a bad system. A good system is one that has good outcomes with weak and venal human beings. The US federal system has its merits but it’s far inferior to Switzerland’s.
> So many people in NGOs etc. are capable of doing just that; working for "the good" even though it pays bad, why should we not expect that from politicians?
Because the government is important. Ideally we want not the best of the people who are motivated by their conception of the good, we want the best, full stop. The average NGO is much less well run than the average company. At the extreme top level where you’re comparing the Gates Foundation with General Electric you’re dealing with at least roughly equivalent levels of competence but if you want the best and you can afford it you shouldn’t self handicap by only hiring those who don’t value money much.
Any system that relies on people being good is a bad system. A good system is one that has good outcomes with weak and venal human beings. The US federal system has its merits but it’s far inferior to Switzerland’s.
> So many people in NGOs etc. are capable of doing just that; working for "the good" even though it pays bad, why should we not expect that from politicians?
Because the government is important. Ideally we want not the best of the people who are motivated by their conception of the good, we want the best, full stop. The average NGO is much less well run than the average company. At the extreme top level where you’re comparing the Gates Foundation with General Electric you’re dealing with at least roughly equivalent levels of competence but if you want the best and you can afford it you shouldn’t self handicap by only hiring those who don’t value money much.