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sixes_and_sevens comments on First(?) Rationalist elected to state government - Less Wrong Discussion
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I ask you to take me at my word that the elected official I'm referring to isn't simply less charismatic than me, (which is saying something), but less charismatic than a potato with a smile drawn on it. Also the "tool" characteristic is far more salient. Imagine the least appropriate human being you can think of for public office, who nonetheless owns a suit and talks in complete sentences. Envision that person as receiving a plurality of votes in an electoral district, and ask yourself why someone, anyone, wasn't in a position to stand in their place.
It doesn't seem obvious to me that STEM-folk are fundamentally different types of people to non-STEM folk with regard to things like dishonesty or compromise. It also doesn't seem obvious to me that someone with a chemistry degree would have political goals more out of alignment with a hypothetical constituency than someone with a business or law degree.
In that case the first step would be to research what kind of opponent they faced in the primary and general election. That might tell you more. Did they actually win against a good opponent for reasons outside of your knowledge?
STEM-folk are less likely to be religious. They are less likely to believe in certain pseudoscientific ideas as well, some of which affect politics (consider the anti-vaccination movements). They are also more likely to be knowledgeable of certain issues related to science and technology (quick, how many STEM people do you know who support TPP?) and therefore to take a different position on them or emphasize them to a different degree.