1. Seriousness. Politics is a serious activity, because it has to give answers to serious issues. Sometimes terrible. The politician should never frivolously relax. More if a serious event has called into question his government. He must take care of his public laughter, his meetings, his expressions when an issue has shaken people. This is when seriousness is most required. The serious politician does not seek simplistic popularity. That popularity that is the new drug of politics.
2. The bravery. Politics is fueled by conflict. It’s the reason to be. Society is groups and individuals in permanent dispute. They are disagreements on which the politician must decide and act. Politics is not for those who avoid problems or do not dimension them. Politics is an activity for the brave. Who are not afraid to confront criminals or the powerful. Courage is what a politician should never lose.
3. The commitment. The commitments, commitments are. Must be met. They were reflected in a campaign, in an interview or in a rally. The commitments that are fulfilled or not, measure the politician. They talk about his honesty or his quackery. He may fool the public momentarily, but sooner or later he will be found out. Lies are not forever.
4. The word. The word goes in and out of the pawnshop of politics. It’s not like before, say our elders. Today the word has become a commodity; it changes value according to the political supermarket in which it is sold. Respect for the word has become a myth. It is an interchangeable token between politicians who do not know how to honor their word.
5. Humility. There are only two types of humility in politics: boastful humility and hypocritical humility. The first is a kind of self-humility. That is to say, a humility that boasts, brags, that has no qualms about saying, “I am humble because I have a humble origin.” And the other humility is a borrowed face, a mask that seeks to be what it is not. It is the humility that hypocritically seeks to be in solidarity with the sick, the elderly, the helpless. Always for the photo.
6. The reflections. In the age of information overload, the politician responds late. When even the impact of the news has passed and people did not see the politician there at the time he was expected. Reflexes are indispensable in today’s politics. And many politicians have lost them. You have to know how to respond at the right time. When the key moment is gone, it doesn’t come back.
7. Ethics. Max Weber superimposed the ethics of responsibility on the ethics of conviction. Yes, personal convictions take second place when the good of those you govern, who are the most, is at stake. Ethics in politics means, really, first those you govern and then you. Today it happens the other way around.
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