Engineering the US Federal Government

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Engineering the US Federal Government

For the past 250 years, give or take, the US Federal Government has been designed, implemented, run and analyzed by lawyers, politicians, lawyers, economists, lawyers, historians, lawyers, "journalists", lawyers, a professional wrestler, lawyers, at least two actors, and maybe even a few lawyers.

I am an engineer by trade, and I could not help but notice that there have been remarkably few engineers in government. That's too bad, because I think we engineers would bring a good perspective to government. Engineering is one of the few professions that must deliver things that actually work. If we deliver a bridge that starts twisting in the wind and crashes into Tacoma Narrows, it is obvious who failed, and we lose our jobs. If we deliver operating systems or software applications that crash too frequently, we lose our jobs. If we deliver hard drives, DVD players, or high definition TV sets that don't work, we lose our jobs. If your power grid goes dark, guess what? If we deliver life critical systems such as medical equipment, airplanes, or nuclear power plants, and they fail, people die, we lose our jobs, and the lawyers come after us. We're ruined.

By contrast, politicians, lawyers, economists, and "journalists" (except for Dan Rather perhaps), can leave a wake of death and destruction a mile wide, and they usually manage to slither away from any responsibility for their mistakes. And the response is nearly always "we didn't do enough -- we need to enhance that last solution". For engineers, repeating the last failure with even more intensity is almost never our strategy. In addition, engineers understand natural systems, especially inverse feedback. Inverse feedback is what keeps electronic amplifiers stable, your body temperature at a constant 98.6F, and your cruise control at 65MPH. It also keeps prices and wages stable in a free, unmolested market. Too few people understand that concept. We need more engineers in government.

1 comment :

BIGEAGLEDecember 4, 2009 at 7:06 PM
So how did we wind up with a federal government that to me could be represented by several hundred thousand Rube Goldberg Machines that essentially produces nothing but a fascination with itself?

By the way do you know/remember what aerospace/flight operation it was that required the engineers to stay sort of hand in hand with the ones who had to build and fly the products from the get go?
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

This is a moderated forum. Please try to avoid ad-hominem attacks and gratuitous profanity. Justifiable profanity may be tolerated.

I am sorry, but due to the un-manageable volume of spam comments, I have enabled the scrambled word verification. I apologize for the inconvenience.

The Only Question You Need

"Which article of the Constitution gives government the authority to do that?"

If more and more people start asking this question, I think most of our worst political problems, in all branches and all levels of government would go away by themselves, almost overnight. When a reporter asked Nancy Pelosi that question about the healthcare bill, her deer-in-the-headlights response was, "Are you serious?" Well, we are serious, and politicians should be afraid to step out of their offices without a credible answer to that question. It is the only "litmus test" that we need.

It really takes so little effort, that it is at least worth a try. The beauty of it is, this really should appeal to honest people from anywhere on the political spectrum.

Uphold and Defend

Big government and bad policy, usurpation of authority not granted in the US Constitution is human nature. Republicans and Democrats are both guilty. We the People must realize that this is not a partisan issue, and demand that all of our politicians follow the Constitution.

The US Constitution is still the official specification for the United States of America.
It guarantees equal justice for all, and protects your life, liberty and prosperity.
Any regime that distorts or disregards its original intent is untrustworthy and dangerous.

Presidential Quotes

The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits. ~ Thomas Jefferson

With respect to the words general welfare, I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators. ~ James Madison

I think we can say that the Constitution reflected an enormous blind spot in this culture that carries on to this day and that the Framers had that same blind spot. I don't think the two views are contradictory to say that it was a remarkable political document, that paved the way for where we are now, and to say it also reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day. ~ Barack Obama

Every word [of the Constitution] decides a question between power and liberty. ~ James Madison

Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. ~ George Washington

Do You Still Have All of the Liberty That You Were Born With?

Think back to when you were growing up. What things could you do then that you can no longer do now? What things did you have the liberty to decide for yourself that is now a mandate? How many federal, state and local laws were passed since you were born? How many new bureaucracies and agencies have been created since you were born? How many new regulations have they imposed? How many tax increases have you seen in your lifetime? How many new government programs have replaced your ability to do it yourself? (more...)

Kakistocracy Report

Sunday, May 10, 2009