Through politics with empathy

#362

When this photo was taken in 2022, Jacinda Ardern was Prime Minister of New Zealand. / Photo: Public Domain, Office of the Vice President of the United States

How do we save democracy?

Through politics with empathy and the will to find solutions instead of accusations and defamation.

Jacinda Ardern is no longer a politician (she is now at Harvard University, USA). And yet, she embodies a style of politics of the future to me.

Politicians can enter politics either with a message of fear and blame or with empathy and finding genuine solutions, like Ardern did when she became Prime Minister of New Zealand in 2017 (she resigned voluntarily in 2023).

“What I find interesting is that this idea of bringing those character traits that you value yourself as a person to your leadership really seems to resonate,” she says in an interview with the New York Times.

Ardern has now published a book about her time as a politician, „A Different Kind of Power.”

I like the idea that politics can differ from how it is usually practiced, especially by populists, who look for scapegoats, portray the world as primarily bad, and style themselves as saviors.

Jacinda Ardern is the opposite. I am desperate for more politicians like her.

See you in Democracy!