Why politics is a vocation

Yeom Jae-ho
The author is the president of Taejae University and former president of Korea University.

The April 10 parliamentary elections are just 20 days away. Starting next weekend, campaign activities will be in full swing — and candidates will be begging for votes around subway stations for about 10 days. In Korea, those with the right to vote are called voters. But what power do ordinary people really have in politics?

After elections are over, voters are often left with a feeling of disgust toward politics while watching the mudslinging in the National Assembly. The next Assembly will unlikely be any better than the worst-ever 21st. The two major political parties claim that they nominated candidates for the election based on systems, but it is doubtful if they really nominated talented people who will serve the country. Furthermore, the weird proportional representation system has morphed into a ridiculous satellite party system to disappoint voters.

Candidates prioritize the party nomination process over the actual election, as voters tend to cast ballots based on their party affiliation rather than candidates’ abilities and visions. However, opinion polls meant to ensure people’s participation in the nomination process can be manipulated easily, and the influence of fanatical supporters is overwhelming. Though the party says it nominates candidates based on a system, the outcomes are often determined by the party leadership.

The legislature’s influence in state affairs has become increasingly powerful since democratization. During the 17th National Assembly, the government sponsored 1,102 bills while lawmakers sponsored 5,728. In the current 21st National Assembly, the government proposed 831 bills while lawmakers did as many as 23,584 bills. Legislators claim that they are constitutional entities in charge of state affairs. They even look down on public servants, as they are the only elected power. But they are busy trying to win budgets for their constituencies during the budget deliberation process — and when the budget bill is passed, they brag about the budget they have won.

Lawmakers wield enormous power during their terms in office. Chang Ki-pyo — a former labor and democratization activist and current head of the National Movement to Abolish Privileges — claims that politics will function when our lawmakers’ privileges are abolished. According to him, they enjoy 180 types of privileges and an annual salary of 15.5 million won ($116,000), the fourth highest in the world. And yet, they were ranked at 114th out of 167 countries in the trust index for politicians. Korean lawmakers have up to six aides each. But in Sweden, two lawmakers share one aide, use public transportation to commute and receive the national average salary.

“Politics as a Vocation” by Max Weber is a masterpiece that explains the role of politicians. As vocation means a calling or mission from God, it is more than just a job for money.

People Power Party interim leader Han Dong-hoon, left, and Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung campaign to draw support from voters on March 15, ahead of the April 10 parliamentary elections. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Weber singled out “passion, responsibility and a sense of proportion” as the three most important qualities of politicians. Passion alone is not enough to be a politician, as they need the ability to make cold, balanced judgments. For a politician to have such an ability, they must consider the ethics of responsibility rather than the ethics of faith. They must escape from the fallacy of fighting against those with different ideas solely based on the ethics of faith such as moral fundamentalism. Politics is the art of bringing together people with different ideas and solving future problems though persuasion and consensus.

Politicians must work with a sense of calling to sacrifice themselves and serve their country. They must not see politics as a job to get paid for and enjoy privileges. They must not accept money for personal gains or resort to flattery, lies or slander only to win nominations. They must speak truthfully even if it is against their interest, and present future visions for their country.

During the latest nomination process, we saw many cases where nominations were revoked due to candidates’ past wrongdoings and acceptances of bribes. Now, we can create a system to meticulously vet candidates with artificial intelligence. Professional organizations — such as associations on political science, political parties and policies — must create a thorough evaluation system to return to voters their rights to appraise their representatives properly.

Voters deserve to have information to judge not only a candidate’s ideological orientation but also their political character and insight. In the age of AI, a system must be established so that professional groups can objectively evaluate politicians’ records of statements, qualities of their questions at legislative hearings, presentation of policies for the country’s future, state affairs activities that go beyond their constituencies, abilities of political persuasion and unity, and decent language and behaviors — and the outcomes should be revealed. Only then will voters have the real power to judge candidates and parties in elections.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.