Adopt a Congresscritter?
No thanks! Way too much manure to scoop up....
A former US congressional staffer has created a campaign to put people with technology backgrounds in a position to work with US lawmakers. The Tech Congress fellowship would put people with backgrounds in computer science and engineering on Capitol Hill working with members of congress and congressional committees to help …
People in power cannot be trained or taught. Aren't we all IT'ers that deal with smug know nothing - know it alls? Even when we go the extra mile to assist, it falls short of their expectations.
I agree that we need knowledgeable people in the positions required to make these laws etc. Therein lies the real conundrum.
I agree, but Political Office and any educational qualifications for said office are non existent. It's an election. Who smiles for the camera, who kisses the most babies... Not an IT certification - even if they only have proficiency in MS Office certificate. We should be so lucky.
It does baffle me how fast the can learn how to view/download pr0n, and not just your garden variety ;-\
"It's an election."
And as the saying goes, it doesn't matter who you vote for you always get a politician.
With our unelected upper house in the UK there should be an opportunity to fix this. Instead of the usual political appointees there should be ex officio places for representatives of the chartered professional bodies, Royal Society etc. As things stand there are a few members of the HoL who have real world qualifications and experience but largely because they also have political affiliations. Having ex officio representation would ensure that there would be far more systematic provision.
The other problem is "how much time would you actually get with a CongressCritter"? I do think the old saw about "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" applies here. Either they get enough to be conversant and are willing to talk and more importantly actually listen to the people who know, or they should recuse themselves from any votes or discussion. Having a little knowledge is sort of like having a fundie Christian running the Science Committee... and we know how that's working out.
I can just imagine the training session. "Which end do the tubes go in? Where do I send the pull tabs so Bill Gates will finally help the Cancer Kid? Make this app do that other, unrelated thing because I like the way this one keeps the stationary inventory but I want it to also send bulk spam emails to prospective donors."
The horror.
Briefing Members and staff about technology issues
Writing legislation
Preparing for hearings or markups
Meeting with stakeholder groups and building coalitions
[the above is from the Fellowship's website]
People with a CompSci background might be okay at that first item, the rest seem to require skill sets antithetical to a CompSci background.