THIS is related to the pandemic, but no, this is not about the need for quarantine.
There is this need for enlightening core questions, too, (ECQ2) that we as a people will have to ask those who seek high positions in government at this time. It is a core of questions that will reflect real life conditions and aspirations that we share no matter how differently we stand in politics.
The questions and the answers to them will show the critical differences that will guide us in choosing leaders who have the best mental capacity to lead us through this pandemic and over the resulting socio-economic hurdles.
In this pandemic that is expected to last through the 2022 elections, mental readiness of leaders must be an issue no matter how clean they might had been in their past records.
But the obvious problem is how to go about it. Speaking for myself, I want to hear the answers directly from the mouth of wannabes and candidates live. The various social media platforms now are enough to reach a significant number of voters with the replicating and disseminating power of online networks and vloggers.
I don’t want canned media statements and memes that are prepared by paid advisers and staff. I want the wannabes and candidates to go live after alerting us a few days ahead. I want to hear their voices and see their facial reactions.
Of course, it is unavoidable that they may be coached before the event, but I am thinking of throwing the ECQ2 randomly through an independent panel. For me that will provide a workable impression for listeners to make useful assessment.
A debate format may be better whenever possible, but from past presidential encounters we got a load of non-sequiturs in the repartee and comedy on stage. We were entertained but we never got deeper into the minds of the candidates.
I have the gut feeling that the pandemic and the corresponding growth in information and computer technology can provide the difference between getting a good understanding of the minds of candidates and getting something false. We should never let the pandemic limitations serve as an excuse for candidates to just feed us instead with memes and symbols of what they are supposed to represent.
My vetted ECQ2 are the following:
1. How do you see yourself serving in this time of the pandemic?
2. How will you tackle joblessness?
3. How will you approach peace and order?
4. How will you handle health and education?
5. How will you unite the people after the election?
So, what ECQ2 are you suggesting? Let us hashtag them #ECQ2.
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