Software development is benefiting greatly from the transparency of Open Source programming. Ostensibly, Linux is one of the most stable and secure operating systems available today. And SO affordable.
Government can be considered an operating system, of sorts. Severely lacking in transparency, our system is prone to corruption, pork bills, and back room deals.
I would love to see our government run by people who are interested in actually using and improving the operating system that is our government and NOT career politicians looking for the glory and power of a high level post. I would like to have representatives that are not only willing, but EAGER to share with taxpayers the details of how they are serving us.
I find our current system truly scary. We have a popular vote for someone who may or may not even be qualified for the position, by people who may or may not know anything about the candidates and issues. And who wins? The guy (or gal) with the best spin? It amazes me that this system works as well as it does. But surely we can do better.
Spyderboy
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But the guys with spin are in control. What you request requires a revolution.
Aha! Someone else has put much more thought into this. Even suggesting we remove our 'leaders' completely. Interesting. <a href-"http://www.metagovernment.org/">Metagovernment:government of, by, and for the people
I don't think more clarity in government would help. We already have 'open meetings' acts, 'freedom of information' acts and a completely transparent legislative process. There's just way too much of it. A full-time news reporter doesn't have time to keep up with the tedium of literally millions of government employees--how could a citizen ever? I think we need to reduce government to one-tenth it's current size and get those people back out in the productive work-force--helping to push the wagon, not riding in it.
I know that these people feel like they're doing important work, but for instance, if you look at goverment services, you can see it's so duplicative --for example law enforcement: school security, police, sherriffs, troopers, fbi, dea, atf, homeland security, etc. Education: local administrators, school district administrators, state admin, then Dept. of education.
CAn you think of any business that takes two years to select a new president? What a stupid waste of money our election process has turned into.
And all of the hand-out programs irk me too. There's so many programs vying to pay for health care and food etc for single moms that none of them that I know would ever consider marriage again, even though I don't know any that aren't living with a man. Job training, free lunches, farm programs, etc. All of these handouts. I'm paying these goverment employees to hand out my money to people that I don't agree are due it and that aren't the least bit greatful to me, the real source of it. It just makes me mad. Anonymous charity is a big mistake in our society. The giver and the receiver should see each other's faces. Then there would be more appreciation on both sides.
I'm ranting. Just open-source government wouldn't be enough.
Karl Marx predicted that communism would enable bureaucracy to wither away, and everybody would be happy, with a perfect self-perpetuating system. So far, nobody can make it happen.
The main part of our problem is that the average American Joe just doesn't give a s***, so people who decide to get involved (politicians)often find no opposition to their plans.
If the Government installed Jive http://www.jivesoftware.com/ all decision making could be instantly crownsourced, referendums could happen on a daily basis. I say buy an Iphone for everyone over 18 years so they can engage and collaborate in the shared Governance of their country