Firstly, is it possible for us to elect leaders without giving them any large sum of wealth, which we could assume to be a salary that would give them three non extravagant but nutritious meals a day, and the ability to pay the rent for a small house or flat. They must be solely preoccupied so that they cannot gain any other form of income. Also, we can attempt to educate and advertise aside from this the degree of hard work needed to be a leader of competence who must spend long hours contemplating the best decision in the face of a mountain of data.

To TheMadFool
I can accept the notion that good leaders do not really exist in an eternal state, therefore when interpreting the following statement take good as meaning as good as possible for leadership.
On your statement that we should like good leaders because they are dedicated to our welfare, are you implying that individuals can identify intuitively if a candidate for some kind of office is good for it? People can easily be deluded and not realise that one man is concerned about welfare and another is not. Of course I think the best criticism here is that I would need evidence for this statement.

I am very sorry for my ignorance, but this is my first post on this forum, my point being that I have not Read everything that you have all had to say and will very likely write in a subpar manner with some not very well thought out ideas. Please criticise if you desire.
How leaders should be educated is a very interesting topic with I have thought about before, which is why I join this dialectic.
I found it odd when thinking about the incompetence of many politicians as to why this is the case, for surely it would be the so that if an individual was chosen to govern the state they would be confirmed as able through some rigorous method. The system of popular vote which forms the backbone of democracy has the potential to fail on its own due to the fact that people will vote for those they like and not those who are good rulers. To circumvent that I thought of adding an additional kind of test besides the judgement of the many, which I was inspired by from the Tang Dynasty scholars examination. The idea being that politicians should be judged also by a kind of test of knowledge and ability that incorporates elements of modern psychology too to determine the ideal way of measuring these features within our current limitations and to tell as to what the individuals personality is truly like and if it is fit for being in a certain position in government. Of course the institution that would create such a test and the maintaining of the quality of it, making sure that whoever runs the process does not become corrupt, are things which only the processes nigh infinitely complex of history can make arise. We must be a thoughtful public which is educated too about wether nonsense is being said by an individual. If we teach people how to be more rational through the greater understanding of the self and make it a place in education then the likelihood of things such as the test I mention above and a more rational society to survive will increase despite human nature.
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