I am a permanent resident (Green Card holder) of the US, and not yet a citizen. Thus I am ineligible to vote in federal elections. I am also not  eligible to vote in state elections in Massachusetts, and not even eligible to vote in town elections (which, given the very large property taxes my wife and I are paying, seems very wrong). As someone interested in politics (in the sense of a research area – making collective decisions and creating institutions that are intended to promote general welfare – and as an interested consumer of news), this is not a pleasant situation. In the US, there are even fairly strong rules (relating to foreign lobbying) about how I can get involved in election-related activities other than voting. Yet I have very strong feelings about the upcoming elections and their consequences for the world. This series of blog posts is my attempt to clarify issues. I hope that by the end, something of value will have been created, and even if no one else reads what i write, I will have gained in understanding. I do hope, however, that others learn from these posts.

Ideally, what one writes will be interpreted charitably and accurately, but experience shows that is not always the case. To forestall any complaints of bias, let me quickly explain my own political background and beliefs. I grew up in New Zealand, which like almost every developed country other than US,  has a stronger central government and a more social democratic consensus. In my only “first past the post” election, I voted Labour, have missed only one NZ general election since then, and have voted for the Green Party every time. NZ changed to a proportional German-style “MMP” system in the 1990s. If the voting system had not changed, I would probably not have voted Green every time, but I feel that their viewpoint is important to have in Parliament although I would not trust them with complete control of government.  Over 25 years ago I realized that I was tired of being against policies all the time, and tried to articulate what I was for. Briefly (see here for the whole document, which was the best I could do in the time available 25 years ago):

• Humans can and should solve their own problems. I am not religious, and am suspicious of the value of religion. No one else will save us.
• Human society should be fair. Decision-making by those most affected by the decisions is the ideal.
• Science is the key to improvement. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, by Carl Sagan, says much better than I could why we need it.
• Ends do not justify means. Processes, procedures and institutions are very important, and preserving and perfecting them is an end in itself.

It is not surprising then that if I had a choice in recent years, I would probably have voted mostly for Democratic candidates in the US, and certainly not for most Republicans. But this series is definitely not a partisan effort – I have no affiliation with any party, and very likely wouldn’t join one if I could (I was a member of the Alliance Party in 1996, but soon grew disillusioned). I have never been good at submitting to the discipline of standing by joint statements that I don’t agree with, and no party agrees with me on every issue. I am now twice as old as when I wrote the bullet points above, and amazingly (especially to my wife, I am sure) I now feel that I have achieved a reasonable level of wisdom. I am better at regulating my emotions (especially anger) and looking at issues more dispassionately. I have a much better understanding now of the US system of government, having read a lot more about its history in recent years. So I hope that readers (if there are any) will engage with these posts in good faith.

There is also the question of less blatant biases. I have a PhD in mathematics and have worked exclusively in public universities in teaching/research roles. I have a particular age, sex, ethnic background, etc. There is nothing to be done there, but I do try to see the world from other viewpoints, and am getting much better at it. My general idea is that proper design of processes, procedures, norms and institutions is the best way to even out all our biases.

Time is short this year, since I have started some new professional roles. I will try to post regularly and frequently enough to make the overhead of this first post worthwhile. Thanks for reading, and feel free to  send  your questions and comments.