A better way to choose candidates

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Opinion

Michael Breen

A better way to choose candidates

Posted : 2016-03-21 17:02

Updated : 2016-03-21 17:09

By Michael Breen

If you follow Korean politics, you will know that last week the ruling party made headlines because Kim who is not a big fan of Park dissed Lee who is and when asked to apologize said, "What for?"

That was considered major news by newspapers.

Most voters, though, didn't care. They think politicians are jerks and aren't going to vote for any of them. When I say most, I mean most. I bet the turnout rate for next month's National Assembly elections is under 50 percent.

This would not be the case if the choices were clearer. But in your district, you'll only get to choose between someone who went to Seoul National University whose hometown is different from the place he is running in and who wants to build a better future, and two other candidates who are the same.

Many people vote according to a basic ideological inclination, from left to right ― socialism, social democracy, free market democracy. Or, according to whether the party wants to engage or contain North Korea. The trouble is that every party is a bit of everything.

If only there were clearer distinctions.

Imagine, for a change, if one party proposed to improve the economy and expand democratic rights, another wanted to put us all in uniform and colonize Japan, and the third said we should cover women up and kill every citizen who doesn't go to the right church on Sunday. We'd know exactly which one to vote for (what's Japanese for, "Get me a beer, will you?").

As it is, though, the parties are shades of the same color.

I live in Jongno-gu in Seoul. These days, near Gyeongbok Palace Station I've noticed two elderly men wearing purple jackets holding up signs at morning commuters. I think they're hired by politicians. They're not the ruling party, whose color is red. That comes from its belief in central planning in the hands of a strong leader. Opposition parties are slightly different in that they believe in central planning in the hands of themselves. Further down the road, there's a lady who yells at the sky waving a large sign that says something about Facebook and Twitter.

I don't know if she's a politician but she might as well be.

You might think I'm joking. But this is a serious matter. The National Assembly is the legislative body of this country. It is very busy making the laws of the land. Sometimes, it passes 50 laws in one day, only one of which the lawmakers have any clue about. On other days, the 300 members are busy doing other stuff for their own advancement.

We get to choose them because we pay their salaries. We're like the board members and the human resources department for the country. Our choice should be based on the candidates' proven ability at the job.

But the Kim, Park and Lee I mentioned are the ones choosing the candidates and they value loyalty over competence, which, as board members, is something we should change.

The problem starts and ends with the political party. As a concept, it is completely superfluous to the country's needs. Without parties, lawmakers would vote according to their conscience, elections wouldn't cost so much, lawmakers would not have to pay huge amounts to their parties for committee chair positions, and the wives of would-be politicians would not have to amass portfolios of buildings and apartments to liquidate for campaign funding, and tenants and small businesses wouldn't find their rents spiraling upwards and wonder why politicians don't pass laws giving them more rights.

But I rant. We have parties and they're not going away. So, what must be done?

My solution is simple. But it's profound and, as it has never happened anywhere in the galaxy, let alone on Earth, it might be difficult to fully comprehend. The answer is what I call "representative democracy." Right now, as you know, candidates are chosen by their party's leadership to run in a specific geographical constituency. My concept is that the party chapter in that constituency should choose the candidate and that, if he or she wins, he or she actually represents the interests of that constituency.

I feel a Nobel Peace Prize coming on.

But there's more. There should be a law that requires anyone leaving his or her party to surrender his or her assembly seat on the grounds that he or she is breaking faith with the constituents who elected him or her. There should also be a law allowing us to refer to politicians in English as "it."

That way, we will get an assembly of 300 Kims, Parks and Lees and even people with other names who will do a better job and who we can respect.

Michael Breen is the CEO of Insight Communications Consultants, a public relations company, and author of "The Koreans" and "Kim Jong-il: North Korea's Dear Leader."