Modeling Open Source Government: Part I

The government is very frustrating sometimes because it is hard to see change taking place from where we (well, most of us) sit. What makes it even more difficult is how helpless we feel to change it. The computer science field may have a solution. Open Source has been around since 1987 and maybe it's the answer we've been looking for.

You can think of source code like this: if a computer program were a building the computer source code would be the blueprints. It is how the software is constructed. It is also important to note if one has the blueprints it is easy to produce the building but if one has the building it is extremely difficult to produce the blueprints.

The conventional method for developing software and marketing it is closed. The development of this kind of software is kept in house and only employees of that company work on it. The output from this is the "building" in the above example. The source code is not available to outsiders and the company maintains ownership of it.

On the contrary, with the open model, the source code is freely distributed with the software. So instead of just the building you get the blueprints as well.

What if there was a way to apply this development model to our government? More to follow ...

A Chip Off the ol' Block

If you had to guess someone's political affiliation but could only know one fact about the person what would you want to know? Their race? Their age? What you should want to know is what were their parent's affiliations. That is the number one indicator of a person's political affiliation.

Trying to be objective I took the following list from another web site and substituted government for children and individual for teen and got the following:

1. The government is clearly in charge.
2. The individual, over time, learns and earns the ability to be more in charge of their self.
3. There is a clear map for continually building trust and responsibility.
4. The government has a way to monitor the progress of the individual.
5. There are clear consequences when the individual demonstrates that he cannot be in charge of their self.
6. There is a map for how to earn back trust and responsibility when it is lost.

We can summarize by saying the government (parent) instills a sense of self worth, individualism, and self sustainability in its people. Parents do this by letting their children learn the consequences of their actions and to take responsibility for those actions, whether the outcome is positive or negative.

What kind of parents would we be if we protected our children by isolating them, not letting them try new things for fear they may fail, or teaching them to be dependent on us hence crippling them for life? Government keeps it's children safe, not from themselves, but from others. Keeping them safe from themselves cripples them, makes them dependent, and strips away the joy of success by providing too much help along the way.

You have the ability to choose the type of government you want for your children; which will it be?