Well, since that whole mind-killer business is already way over the horizon...

It can't be uncommon for people on here to look at their elected representatives and think "that doesn't seem like a very high bar to clear". It may be that I'm missing something, but the one elected official I personally know is, to put it bluntly, an uncharismatic tool with no relevant background. I wouldn't trust him as a stooge. Even if it was the safest seat in the country, it's bewildering to me that no-one else is there in his place.

Why don't more people like us (for some conception of "us" that may or may not be coherent) stand for public office? Here are some hypotheses:

• They do, and I'm misinformed
• STEM backgrounds are anti-correlated with public office because:
  • they have higher earning potential in the private sector
  • they systematically lack relevant skills, or the ability to recognise these skills
  • they are systematically located in large centres of industry, which attract more dedicated and competent competition in political spheres
• They're too cynical to be politically active
• There is a secret undercurrent of heavily politically-active people on Less Wrong who don't discuss it because of prevailing mind-killer social norms

Other suggestions (or counter-assertions, or gentle mockery) welcome.