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Two years, Paul. Come on.

by cjoh 16y ago

anigbrowl 16y ago
...after you get elected, which took a year of pandering to fools at considerable expense in dollars, dignity, or both. From an individual standpoint it just does not make snese: the absolute best you can hope for is to be called 'wonkish,' as opposed to 'autistic.' Now a Programmer Party would be a wonderful idea, at least in theory. It could run on an agenda of tidying up the laws and making them readable and responsive to people's needs. On the other hand, you only have to look at political arguments here on HN to realize that programmers are as ideologically fractured as any other social group. As soon as a question of economics or the scope of government power arose, a schism would occur. Clearly what we need is to declare a Politician class, and then create multiple objects derived from that class, taking full advantage of inheritance, polymorphism and operator overloading. This will solve all our problems, just as soon as we agree on which compiler to use...
- cjoh 16y ago
  Eh, it's not that hard to win a Congressional seat. I've worked on and with dozens of campaigns. And only if you're in a super swing area against a well funded candidate do you have to do the cynical pandering stuff. Ultimately, shoe-leather and hard work can win elections. Plus, something tells me Paul can raise enough money to win in a few minutes.
- anigbrowl 16y ago
  (edit timeout) I get your point cjoh - you're right, but I have real doubts about what can be achieved by an individual in a 2 year term, especially when set against the many other unrelated needs of constituents. Many countries run parliamentary systems with party lists, such that candidates for office may be experts on a narrow range of issues rather than needing to appeal to a particular geographical constituency, but the US system is structured against that. On a related note, it is interesting for those of us in California to watch how the candidacies of Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman are playing out.
  - cjoh 16y ago
    At the very least-- one of "us" in there could educate us on what's happening in there.

Two years, Paul. Come on.

by cjoh 16y ago

Two years, Paul. Come on.

...after you get elected, which took a year of pandering to fools at considerable expense in dollars, dignity, or both. From an individual standpoint it just does not make snese: the absolute best you can hope for is to be called 'wonkish,' as opposed to 'autistic.' Now a Programmer Party would be a wonderful idea, at least in theory. It could run on an agenda of tidying up the laws and making them readable and responsive to people's needs. On the other hand, you only have to look at political arguments here on HN to realize that programmers are as ideologically fractured as any other social group. As soon as a question of economics or the scope of government power arose, a schism would occur. Clearly what we need is to declare a Politician class, and then create multiple objects derived from that class, taking full advantage of inheritance, polymorphism and operator overloading. This will solve all our problems, just as soon as we agree on which compiler to use...

cjoh 16y ago
Eh, it's not that hard to win a Congressional seat. I've worked on and with dozens of campaigns. And only if you're in a super swing area against a well funded candidate do you have to do the cynical pandering stuff. Ultimately, shoe-leather and hard work can win elections. Plus, something tells me Paul can raise enough money to win in a few minutes.
anigbrowl 16y ago
(edit timeout) I get your point cjoh - you're right, but I have real doubts about what can be achieved by an individual in a 2 year term, especially when set against the many other unrelated needs of constituents. Many countries run parliamentary systems with party lists, such that candidates for office may be experts on a narrow range of issues rather than needing to appeal to a particular geographical constituency, but the US system is structured against that. On a related note, it is interesting for those of us in California to watch how the candidacies of Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman are playing out.
- cjoh 16y ago
  At the very least-- one of "us" in there could educate us on what's happening in there.