🤔 don't blame the politicians
- when government is ineffective, it's easy to blame the people in power
- but, it's usually more correct to blame the process
- particularly when it seems just as ineffective no matter who is in power
- analogy: in software, if a bug makes it to production, you rarely blame an individual - unless they acted maliciously - you usually reflect on what's wrong in the processes of the team that allowed it to happen
- "the process" for government being the constitution (in the general term, as in, the structure of government, how it is formed, how it operates - not just the constitutional document)
- the "problem" includes procedural rules that allow for gerrymandering or filibuster
- but, also structural rules like first-past-the-post elections (leading to 2 party, polarized, identity politics), or even more fundamentally, elections vs sortition (elections maintaining plutarchy - rule by wealthy and elite)
- ...and incentives created by these processes (short-term re-election focused, fundraising-focused, etc.)
- (related thoughts:)
- is it ineffective, or just ineffective from your perspective
- (perhaps there are those who are pleased with how things are)
- is an ineffective government better than an effective-but-not-the-way-you-want government?
- given enough time, any subtle "flaws" (levers for power) in a governance system will be found and exercised
- "stuck in a stand-off" (ex. filibuster) may be a better "stable point" than "runaway power"