If Engineers Ran the World

I often joke with my wife about writing a book with a title along the lines of "What if Engineers Ran the World." Unlike politicians, engineers look at problems and try to come up with the most elegant solution without regard to emotion or who will be offended. We recognize the complexities of certain situations but also understand when some arguments can be ignored.

Unfortunately this straightforwardness makes it impossible for engineers to get elected to any major public office. When a constituent asks about a special project the benefits a minor segment of the population, the what-a-waste-of-time-and-money answer alienates more than just the person posing the question. Then there is that whole pocket-protector and nerdy glasses image that doesn't help either.

One example engineers and politicians using different approaches is healthcare. I think everyone can agree that healthcare has gotten incredibly expensive and something needs to be done. Politicians feel that by spreading out the costs of healthcare, it will lessen the impact for those that are truly sick. An engineer looks at the problem and wonders why healthcare costs are so high to begin with. Maybe we should attack those problems such as the spiraling cost of malpractice insurance and significant tort reform. Besides, if someone is going to streamline our healthcare system, I don't think it is going to be the government. "Federal Government" and "efficient" are generally never heard in the same sentence without the word "not."

Another example is the economy. Politicians seem to think that deficit government spending was what rescued us from the Great Depression. What they don't realize was that money went to infrastructure programs that helped ignite the economy and build our country into what it is today. An engineer would look to emulate this spark for the economy instead of paying overinflated bonuses to bankers, airline executives, and automobile manufacturers that have already proven they are incompetent.

Yesterday was election day and I exercised my right to vote. I used it to give my current city council the proverbial finger. You see, my property taxes increased 70% this year to help cover the budget shortfall due to a down economy. Judging from the election results, I wasn't the only one upset by the tax increase. Now if we could only get more engineers to run for public office.