Government isn't the answer.

I'm not sure where to really start on this one. Essentially the idea has been proposed that in order to fix the technology patent problems in the US that there needs to be a significant change in leadership. While I agree with the concept that leadership in the US needs to be changed, determining who it needs to be changed to is perhaps a difficult task... or is it?

My personal opinion is that I don't want the government to get involved in technology, business or other matters. I want less government control, less government oversight, less government overall. Why?

Well, lets put it in a practical examples. Name any industry that a Government has entered that has improved.

Health Care? From what I read coming out of Europe that's a living joke. I have choked listening to some of the stories coming from people living in Government sponsored health care nations. Sure, it looks nice on paper, but I really don't want my taxes to go to fixing somebody else's leg broken during a game of American Football.

Military? Oh, I'm fairly sure that the soldiers killed in lightly armored humvees gladly switched over from a heavily armored tank. That went over real well. Not to mention shortages on Body Armor and weapons development.

Transportation? I live in Georgia. We still have places that were marked for paved roads over 4 decades ago that haven't gotten paved roads yet. Oh yeah, Government has done a real good job there.

National Endowments of the Arts? Somebody placing a cross in a bowl of urine and calling it art gets a grant. Do I really need to spell out what's wrong with this picture?

The fact is, anytime a Government gets involved in anything, any industry, any practice, and job, the results tend to range from bad to horrible. So, why is that? Well, lets think about who is IN a Government modeled on the US Congress.

The point of a representative government is that a large group of people elects one person to represent their beliefs, jobs, industry, and everything else to another person who is also elected by a large group of people. In some aspects it is a Government by Proxy. I elect an individual and I expect that individual to represent me to the best of their abilities. The hoped for goal is that large numbers of people are represented by a small number of manageable people.

It used to be that Representative elects were normal citizens. Farmers, blacksmiths, tailors, and so on. People with real 9-5 jobs who went out and spoke for other people with real 9-5 jobs.

Now, there is a semi-new breed of Representative, a career politician. Somebody whose family had money or influence, who has never held a real 9-5 job, never served time in the military defending their country, and expects to be able to represent people who have completed such actions and events. The very real problem is this, career politicians are the last people that should be representing any populace in any situation.

That is why Governments tend to do so poorly in any industry that can be named. A car repairman by trade shouldn't be telling a Doctor how to best treat a sick patient. A painter by trade shouldn't be telling the Military how to build armored vehicles. Somebody with no real world job experience shouldn't be instructing or determining how people with real world job experience should be managed. Yet, that is exactly what happens today. Some blathering idiot gets up, makes a speech, gets a letter signed by 40+ like minded individuals, all whom are uniquely unequipped to be in the leadership positions they are in.

What is needed then is a return to the old representative style. Common men and women who force themselves out of bed at the crack of dawn, work their rear ends off for 8 hours, come home, work their ends off some more, then plop into bed exhausted... those are the people that need to be leading. People who actually have done something with themselves besides pose for photographs.

*****

Now, I've gone over this before in an earlier blog post asking people to follow the money and trail of thought from RIAA and MPAA to existing political candidates and parties. Going back to that trail of thought, I'd encourage people to individually follow up on who is aggressively abusing the patent system by following the money.

We already know that Acacia is behind IP Innovations lawsuit against Linux companies Red Hat and Novell. We also already know that 3 key Microsoft executives are running Acacia. We also know that Microsoft is hand in hand with helping the RIAA and MPAA aggressively rework the definition of fair use and content ownership. We also know that the RIAA and MPAA are mostly made of Liberal Leftist Democrats who support Hillary Clinton.

Oh yes. I just spelled it out.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. Anybody who honestly believes that a Democratic leadership is going to result in any change that is beneficial to Linux, free rights, and fair use? Is

A: Seriously Deluded
B: Brain damaged.

Now, I'm not saying that voting Republican all the way is going to fix the attack on fair usage and freedom of rights. This goes back to the earlier point that career politicians are not the answer. If anything, career politicians will make the problem worse regardless of political affiliation. As I see it, the lack of connection between real world experience and the political realm many Republicans are swayed by the cute sounding arguments made by members of the RIAA and MPAA, as well as arguments made by Microsoft's extensive lobbying staff.

At worst a Republican leadership in the White House and both Houses of Congress should mean that nothing gets worse. At best, it could be the start of getting real people back into the Chain of Command, people who haven't been handed life on a silver platter.