There are only a couple of occupations in New Zealand where being drunk on the job doesn't seem to cause any problems. The first is playing rock music. The other is politics.

There's plenty of well-documented examples of political decisions being made under the influence of alcohol. So, I believe we should introduce random breath-testing for politicians.

We could test them as they entered the debating chamber, and maybe also before they made any media appearances. Definitely spot-checks at the door of their office would be worthwhile too!
-- the_jxc, Oct 14 2003

In Australia, if the police want to search the house of a Member of Parliament, they have to give 24 hours notice. Otherwise, it's "obstructing the parliamentary process..."

Unfortunately, a law like this can only be passed by... politicians. This will occur soon after they vote themselves paycuts.
-- Detly, Oct 14 2003


Good idea. I think corrupt politicians are one of the biggest problems that we face in the future of this planet. We should lead the way in keeping honest good people in office. Hopefully Pakistan, Iran, India, China, Iran, North Korea, Brazil will follow our lead. I’m not saying all of these countries are un-ethical, but they, like the USA will soon have nuclear weapons, and we don’t want people making rash decisions.

The affect of what politicians do (war, taxation, etc) is too important to decide while being drunk. This is obvious for me to say, and sounds kind of stupid once said, but I think it's true.
-- myclob, Mar 19 2005


I would have thought most political decisions would take so long to implement that somebody, somewhere would have sobered up during the process. But maybe New Zealand politics is snappier.

Can we have three of these well- documented examples?
-- Basepair, Mar 20 2005



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