To remedy this, I propose a rigorous test to establish the bona fides of anyone seeking high office, from about the level of mayor of any city of more than 50,000 persons through membership of state legislatures and all federal aspirations, including unelected bureaucrats with oversight of state or federal departments from the level of deputy head and upward.

The test comprises:
2 minutes of waterboarding
30 minutes of electric shock torture
3 months solitary confinement
2 professionally administered beatings

After initial testing, any two of these treatments are to be administered once each year that the incumbent or aspirant is in office or in opposition.

The benefits that we should see from this process are straightforward.

1. Politicians who pass this test are truly motivated for passionate ideological reasons
2. Politicians far less willing to commit the lives ofothers to unnecessary wars and hardships, without some very serious justification.
3. Otherwise unemployable former secret service agents are able to exercise their particular skills legitimately, rather than under the cloak of deniability.

This idea may also require the instigation of an independent global testing authority, to ensure impartiality in both testing and election of political aspirants.