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In software development, I am cynical of any tool, language, or process that promises to somehow make a team of ineffective programmers produce software of valu

In software development, I am cynical of any tool, language, or process that promises to somehow make a team of ineffective programmers produce software of value. However, given a team of developers with some sort of baseline competence, I strongly believe that some tools increase their effectiveness while others hold them back. Translating this to forms of government, I conjecture that if we elect ineffective and/or untrustworthy officials, and if enough untrustworthy persons obtain power in unelected positions, I doubt there is any system that can somehow prevent them from doing bad things. But given a certain critical mass of honesty and effectiveness in the people placed in charge, some forms of government provide superior results to others. I am not going to say that America has the greatest form of government here, but is it possible that what we have here is a people problem, not a government problem?

shasta 16y ago
I'm not sure I understand to which of my musings your conjecture is directed. Are you saying that without sufficiently many honest and competent people we cannot have great government because we need those people to run the government or to choose it? I think you're saying the former and also maybe taking the position that all we really need to do to fix the present situation is to elect enough honest and competent people. I don't fully agree with either of those points (I think there are ways we could employ technology that would greatly mitigate the damage caused by incompetence or malice of government officials), but also I'd point out that the common failure of our current system of government to get honest and competent candidates elected is itself a failure of government that has room for improvement.
danilocampos 16y ago
This is very well said. I'm reminded of the cliche that the people get the government they deserve. And boy, have we got ours in the United States. As long as the majority remains lazy and ignorant, the successful politicians will be mostly power-seekers, narcissists or agents of industry.
- raganwald 16y ago
  I can't speak to American politics, but it is with shame that I report that here in Canada, ourMinister of State for Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear, refuses to confirm that he believes in evolution: I'm not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don't think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate. Well, gosh, asking the Minister of State for Science and Technology to discuss his belief in Science is asking him about his religion. And here's the rub: This was widely reported and we Canadians sent this team back into office for another four years with a majority. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/article320476.ece http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/article320476.e... Can I really blame Mr. Goodyear? Or our system? Or should Canadians have a good, hard look at themselves in the mirror?
  - shasta 16y ago
    That position could be dominant because of a relatively small minority of Canadians who feel strongly about creationism who will actually vote on that issue.
    - raganwald 16y ago
      Agreed. Or to put it another way, that party could have been elected because the majority of people who bothered to vote were apathetic about the qualifications and bias of the Minister of State for Science and Technology and what implications that might have for funding science and industry.

shasta 16y ago

I'm not sure I understand to which of my musings your conjecture is directed. Are you saying that without sufficiently many honest and competent people we cannot have great government because we need those people to run the government or to choose it? I think you're saying the former and also maybe taking the position that all we really need to do to fix the present situation is to elect enough honest and competent people. I don't fully agree with either of those points (I think there are ways we could employ technology that would greatly mitigate the damage caused by incompetence or malice of government officials), but also I'd point out that the common failure of our current system of government to get honest and competent candidates elected is itself a failure of government that has room for improvement.

danilocampos 16y ago

This is very well said. I'm reminded of the cliche that the people get the government they deserve. And boy, have we got ours in the United States. As long as the majority remains lazy and ignorant, the successful politicians will be mostly power-seekers, narcissists or agents of industry.

raganwald 16y ago
I can't speak to American politics, but it is with shame that I report that here in Canada, ourMinister of State for Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear, refuses to confirm that he believes in evolution: I'm not going to answer that question. I am a Christian, and I don't think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate. Well, gosh, asking the Minister of State for Science and Technology to discuss his belief in Science is asking him about his religion. And here's the rub: This was widely reported and we Canadians sent this team back into office for another four years with a majority. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/article320476.ece http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/article320476.e... Can I really blame Mr. Goodyear? Or our system? Or should Canadians have a good, hard look at themselves in the mirror?
- shasta 16y ago
  That position could be dominant because of a relatively small minority of Canadians who feel strongly about creationism who will actually vote on that issue.
  - raganwald 16y ago
    Agreed. Or to put it another way, that party could have been elected because the majority of people who bothered to vote were apathetic about the qualifications and bias of the Minister of State for Science and Technology and what implications that might have for funding science and industry.