You're thinking technocracy and that's not necessarily a good idea. What you want above all in a political leader is that his value system be aligned to yours. If it is not, the fact that he is effective at reaching his goals becomes a threat, not a benefit.
Only if the goals are actually opposed to yours.
Anyway, I think most politicians goals are vaguely similar in certain respects - almost all think that economic growth is good, for instance.
Only if the goals are actually opposed to yours.
Nope, because for many resources the game is zero-sum.
Anyway, I think most politicians goals are vaguely similar in certain respects
So, taking a look at the XX century, for example, do you think that the value systems of politicians (or, by extension, political elites) can be safely ignored? 8-0
I just saw that Donald Trump is running for president. Which led me to the following thought: would any of the big names in tech have a chance at being elected president of the US? Elon Musk? Sergey Brin? Jeff Bezos? Reid Hoffman? Peter Thiel? Edit: Bill Gates?
Some follow up questions/thoughts:
Edit: hypothetically, if one of these big-name tech people were to try to gain political power, how should they go about doing so?