I just learned that Kevin Ragsdale is running for Congress he’s running as an independent and as he notes on his campaign website, he’s running for change in politics (a common theme in this US election) but more importantly as he notes, he has 9 trillion reasons to run (the National Debt). So good luck Kevin!
As he notes:
“When I’m approached to create a solution, I simply study the problem and apply logic and common sense…Maybe we could use a few more programmers in Washington, and a few less lawyers.”
So that got me thinking. Are there generic pros and cons about developers running for congress?
Pros
1. As Kevin notes, logic is a key component of programming logic. While not necessarily that of everyone who writes a program (or a compiler), the key point is once you know the rules of the compiler, logic will prevail (for the most part). Does that apply to government or politics? It’s supposed to, except that politicians always like to change the rules.
2. Passionate. Of course, here, I’m talking about real developers/programmers/analysts, not the ones who go into computer science because of the job opportunity. The same could be said about anyone who really enjoys their work. I believe it was Plato who actually said the only person who shouldn’t govern are the ones who want to govern (or something to that effect, someone refresh my quote).
3. Ready for change. As Kevin notes above, he looks to create “solutions”. You start with one solution but if presented with a better one, you go for it.
Cons
1. Forget about party lines – what about the language lines? Ideally, developers don’t get too crazy about their choice of tools. But one can only look at the differences and attitudes between some Win devs vs. Linux devs to question it a little. Would a little Washington make a difference?
2. Too much logic? Is there are such a thing? Then again, if you look at pros 1 and 2, they don’t have to conflict.
What do you think? Are there others?