How Will Candidates be Selected for the 'America' Party?

Elon Musk has decided to start his new ‘America’ party (AP) and will need at some point to select candidates to run under his banner. This situation is reminiscent of the famous quote attributed to Groucho Marx: “I refuse to belong to any group that would have me as a member.” . . . except in reverse. Any politician who wants to join the AP should be rejected, since politicians pretty much by definition are liars who would sell their own children to win an election. I think Elon would be foolish to allow any politician to join his party, and I have yet to see any evidence that Elon Musk is foolish.

So, how on God’s green earth will Elon Musk select candidates for his new ‘America’ party. Any politician claiming an interest in joining the AP must be doing so for their own nefarious ends and so pretty much remove themselves from any realistic candidate pool. Any politician picked to be a candidate can be counted on to be just as insincere as all the other politicians, so what good is that?

In my humble opinion, the answer has to be - only nonpoliticians should be considered as potential candidates; but then this raises the question - why would any nonpolitician *want* to run for office under the AP banner? Surely there are less painful (pins in the eyes, ritual suicide with a blunt-edged sword, marriage to your worst enemy, etc.) ways to spend millions of dollars and years of one’s life than that! The only reason politicians put up with this kind of torture is because they think they can leverage their only talent - the ability to lie convincingly - for an elected office that will allow them to enrich themselves at the expense their constituents.

Here are some thoughts about how Elon might go about incentivizing nonpoliticians to run for office under the AP banner:

1. Potential candidates must agree, in a legally enforceable way, to serve only a limited number of terms, removing the incentive to sell their souls for money. I suggest two terms (12 years) for senators and 6 terms (again 12 years) for representatives. I’m not sure what form ‘legally enforceable’ would take, but surely there must be something that would work. In addition, they must agree to vote for term limits legislation, should the opportunity arise.

2. Potential candidates must agree not to accept any monies other than their salary while they are in office. No lavish dinners, no paid junkets, no ‘honorariums’ for speaking at events, no free tickets or upgrades on airlines, nada.

3. Potential candidates must agree to produce a blog-style rendering (on X, of course!) of their daily activities, so constituents can see what is being done on their behalf.

So, what does a potential candidate get in return for agreeing to go through hell WITHOUT the promise of fame and fortune should they be elected? Why would anyone with two neurons to rub together and even one ounce of integrity and decency volunteer to jump into the unholy snake-pit that defines current political life? Here are some thoughts:

1. The AP will completely fund and staff election campaigns on behalf of selected candidates.

2. All candidates will run on a platform similar to the one described recently on X:

   1. Reducing debt and promoting responsible spending

   2. Modernizing the military with AI and robotics

   3. Supporting technological advancement, particularly in AI

   4. Reducing regulations, especially in the energy sector

   5. Protecting free speech

   6. Promoting pro-natalist policies

   7. Adopting centrist policies in other areas

   8. I would add - Support for the following federal election requirements:

      1. Proof of citizenship required

      2. Paper ballots only (or block-chain technology that can’t be hacked)

      3. All vote tabulation must be complete by the end of the voting day, including the counting of all absentee ballots.

      4. All voting must be done in-person on the same voting day. No mail-in ballots except for absentee ballots with proof of inability to vote normally, and proof of citizenship.

      5. Federal election days will be federal holidays.

3. Campaigns will be run almost entirely online, via interviews by podcasters, posts on X and other social media platforms.

4. Candidates’ private lives will be just that - private. Any attempt to bring up past embarrassing events will be met with “So what. How does that affect my ability to perform in the desired office, which mostly only requires an IQ with two or more digits and a regular heartbeat.”

5. All candidates, if asked about their suitability for the desired office will reply: “I don’t lie, steal or cheat. I have an IQ that isn’t in single digits, I have a functioning BS meter, and I have some modicum of common sense. I hate the idea of having to work in Washington D.C. but I think I can stand it for two (or six) years. I will try hard to do nothing to hurt my constituents or the country, which is more than I can say about my opponent and/or the current incumbent. If I do nothing more than prevent some lying, stealing politician from occupying the office for the duration of my term, I will consider myself successful.”

This is the great conundrum for Elon’s ‘America’ party: How can a political party put up candidates for political offices who aren’t politicians? How does a political party prevent successful candidates from turning into the same depraved morality-free swamp-critter just like the rest of the D.C. in-crowd? And most importantly, how can a political party that run nonpoliticians for political office ever succeed in an environment so completely overrun by politicians sincerely promising everything under the sun just to get elected? I think it just might be possible; I think the voters of today - especially the younger cohort who have recently endured the Covid epidemic with all its lies and falsehoods, the ‘Climate Change’ idiocy, and the whole ‘woke’ nonsense - might respond well to a candidate who can say “I’m not ‘woke’. I believe there are only two genders. I don’t lie, cheat, or steal, and I don’t make promises I can’t keep. I think it is foolish to claim that our world will burn up in X years (where ‘X’ is a number that ends with a five or a zero) when all the actual data indicates to the contrary. I believe ‘cancelling’ someone is equivalent to admitting that they are right. I may not be the best candidate in the world, but I’m nowhere near as bad as a career politician.”

Just some random thoughts.