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Law is central to government. It makes sense for most politicians to have a background in law as opposed to, for an extreme example, real estate.

ciupicri 1y ago
Is this the reason that America still doesn't have a national abortion law and had to rely on a sentence?
Reasoning 1y ago
Yup, a lot of engineers here letting their egos be stroked. "Lawyers are bad people unlike me, a noble and rational engineer. If I controlled the government I would do things right, because I'm an engineer."
- monkeyelite 1y ago
  And as further evidence, this idea was already tried in the Soviet Union and it did not produce benevolent leaders free from human failings.
asdff 1y ago
Any lawyer you personally know will tell you they are not qualified at all to even opine outside their very specific niche in the law. Merely being a lawyer does not mean you are qualified for office. I would argue the most qualified people for office are the aides and clerks for existing politicians who have spent years working in the sausage factory already. I would argue committee and cabinet appointments are generally terrible because once again, lawyers are chosen to run certain domain specific committees mainly for political reasons rather than domain experts from a given industry. See what happens when we get a laywer as the secretary of health and human services rather than a credible immunologist.
- _DeadFred_ 1y ago
  Lawyers approach arguments from both sides (so that they know where they are weak, where they are strogon), and know how to identify/tear apart BS. Engineers know how to present 'the correct position' once. The best engineers I knew benefited from having someone else in the company do their 'political' work for them. They were horrible at it themselves.
  - asdff 1y ago
    Uhh that is grossly simplifying the scientific process. How do you think they arrive at 'the correct position?' Empirically testing alternative hypotheses. It is lawyers that need to win once and just slip something past a judge. Engineering 'truths' if you could call them that are constantly reevaluated in light of new evidence, theory, and data.

ciupicri 1y ago

Is this the reason that America still doesn't have a national abortion law and had to rely on a sentence?

Reasoning 1y ago

Yup, a lot of engineers here letting their egos be stroked. "Lawyers are bad people unlike me, a noble and rational engineer. If I controlled the government I would do things right, because I'm an engineer."

monkeyelite 1y ago
And as further evidence, this idea was already tried in the Soviet Union and it did not produce benevolent leaders free from human failings.

asdff 1y ago

Any lawyer you personally know will tell you they are not qualified at all to even opine outside their very specific niche in the law. Merely being a lawyer does not mean you are qualified for office. I would argue the most qualified people for office are the aides and clerks for existing politicians who have spent years working in the sausage factory already. I would argue committee and cabinet appointments are generally terrible because once again, lawyers are chosen to run certain domain specific committees mainly for political reasons rather than domain experts from a given industry. See what happens when we get a laywer as the secretary of health and human services rather than a credible immunologist.

_DeadFred_ 1y ago
Lawyers approach arguments from both sides (so that they know where they are weak, where they are strogon), and know how to identify/tear apart BS. Engineers know how to present 'the correct position' once. The best engineers I knew benefited from having someone else in the company do their 'political' work for them. They were horrible at it themselves.
- asdff 1y ago
  Uhh that is grossly simplifying the scientific process. How do you think they arrive at 'the correct position?' Empirically testing alternative hypotheses. It is lawyers that need to win once and just slip something past a judge. Engineering 'truths' if you could call them that are constantly reevaluated in light of new evidence, theory, and data.