
This Open Source Coder Wants to be a Congressman - digital55
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/03/coder-congress/
======
smacktoward
_> The patent system. Online privacy law. Bitcoin regulations. Net neutrality
rules._

I applaud anyone who's willing to roll up their sleeves and get involved with
the democratic process. It's the only way we're ever going to get this country
moving again.

That being said, however, it's generally not a great idea to build a campaign
around issues that 99% of the electorate has never heard of and/or cares
nothing about. NJ-2 is pushing 9% unemployment -- all those jobless people are
going to be worried about things other than Bitcoin or patent reform. Not to
mention their friends and families, and all the people who aren't unemployed
but are teetering on the brink.

Cole's campaign site
([http://coleforcongress.com/](http://coleforcongress.com/)) is long on bio
and short on issue positions, so it's possible that _Wired_ is misrepresenting
his platform, of course. (I hope they are! I'm a Democrat, I would _love_ to
see the Dems pick this district up.) But it's also possible that they are not;
not articulating issue positions cuts both ways.

This is a classic mistake that techies keep making when throwing their hat
into the ring -- assuming that the issues that techies are buzzing about are
the same ones that _everyone_ is buzzing about. (For an example, look back to
the 2002 campaign of Tara Sue Grubb in North Carolina:
[http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2002/08/54693](http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2002/08/54693),
[http://books.google.com/books?id=5DMSVPEv86gC&pg=PA92&lpg=PA...](http://books.google.com/books?id=5DMSVPEv86gC&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=tara+sue+grubb&source=bl&ots=zzrOzsbJZS&sig=y5r48oHGgioV0DOFKoAXC2az6Zo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gDgjU_eNLKLF0QH7ioGIBg&ved=0CC8Q6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=tara%20sue%20grubb&f=false))
Maybe that's true in a few tech-heavy districts, but in the vast majority it's
very, very far from the mark. And being out of touch with what your would-be
constituents are buzzing about is not how you win elections.

~~~
carleverett
He's not running on those issues though, his main running points were job
creation, student debt, climate change, and education. From the article:

"Cole is quick to downplay his alligence to the tech industry, which is
increasingly under fire for being out of touch with the rest of the country.
“Software developers aren’t the only ones under represented in congress,” he
says. “Teachers, people in business other than CEOs, service workers, lots of
people don’t have a voice in government because it’s really expensive to run a
campaign."

~~~
humanrebar
I wouldn't call teachers or non-CEO businesspersons underrepresented. The NEA
and the US Chamber of Commerce are consistently among the top political
donors. Depending on your definition of service workers, several unions are
also among the top donors.

[http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/](http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/)

~~~
davecolenj
I simply mean that they aren't running and winning at the rate lawyers and
those with long political careers are. I'd rather have them elected than only
represented through lobbying groups!

~~~
humanrebar
I can understand that, but they're still in a different league than
technologists, who don't benefit from lobbying unless it aligns with certain
business interests.

------
unethical_ban
But he believes that the U.S. House — rather than state or local government —
is the perfect place to start. “I’m running to tackle the issues that most
affect families in South Jersey, like too few jobs, too high student debt, the
need to act on climate change and the opportunity to make vital investments in
education and infrastructure,” he says. “On those and many other issues, the
leadership of the House of Representatives have obstructed any attempts at
moving our country forward.”

\---

Thinking like this is why we have a gigantic, anti-Constitutional federal
government. Why can't he work on infrastructure in NJ at the state or local
level? Why can't he work on jobs programs and economic incentives for
businesses in NJ?

Climate change is the only thing listed that needs action above a state level.

~~~
AnthonyMouse
> Thinking like this is why we have a gigantic, anti-Constitutional federal
> government. Why can't he work on infrastructure in NJ at the state or local
> level? Why can't he work on jobs programs and economic incentives for
> businesses in NJ?

Because nobody else does. If your state's legislators aren't bringing federal
money into your state while all the other states' legislators are passing
federal programs funded by your state's taxpayers, you are going to alienate
your constituents and lose your seat. Nobody is interested in less federal
funding unless it also means lower federal taxes.

The problem is fundamentally that some states aren't pulling their weight,
paying substantially less in federal taxes than they receive in federal
funding, and those states' legislators (who incidentally are largely
Republicans) have absolutely no interest in turning off the federal spigot. So
if you're from the North East or the West Coast, you can't really do much to
keep Uncle Sam's hand out of your pocket, at which point it becomes extremely
attractive to put in for your own boondoggles to try and claw some of it back.

It's not ideology, it's political arithmetic. If you don't like it, figure out
how to prevent the South from diverting such a massive quantity of federal
dollars into their defense contractors.

~~~
pilom
>Nobody is interested in less federal funding unless it also means lower
federal taxes.

Except for the crazy Republicans (governors mostly) who voted not to accept
federal dollars for public transit funding or who voted not to expand Medicare
coverage "Because its part of Obamacare and thats bad!" The Federal government
would have paid for it?!?!

~~~
AnthonyMouse
But they don't want the federal government to pay for things like that. Money
for those kinds of programs ends up concentrated in the high population
states.

Moreover, if they implement the program then it's permanent. Their own federal
legislators could no longer go to Washington and argue for repeal because
they'll have the constituents in their own districts up in arms if they try to
cancel a program their constituents are already receiving benefits under.
Whereas if the governors refuse the money then the state's federal legislators
will have every incentive to fight to have the money stripped from the budget
in future years.

The response from Blue State governors should be to refuse federal "Homeland
Security" money. Give their own legislators cover to repeal that. I mean
really, how many police departments legitimately need _more_ SWAT teams?

------
itsdrewmiller
Geez hacker news, talk about a can't win! The top comment is complaining that
he needs to have a broad appeal instead of focus on tech issues and the second
highest is complaining he sounds too generic and should talk more about niche
online issues.

I know Dave personally and will say that if the healthcare.gov debacle
bothered you, there is probably not another person in the world with as clear
a view into that dysfunction and with the passion to end it.

~~~
spikels
Sorry but he is clearly playing down his involvement with tech in the article
- oddly to Wired - for exactly the top comment's reasons. I hope it is not a
barrier to being a politician. His website is upfront about being an
"engineer" and even "entrepreneur" but still mostly generic.

I would love to hear about his experience with the healthcare.gov mess and his
thoughts on how to avoid these problems in the future. There are dozens of
similar extremely important federal governmant IT project experiencing similar
problems.

------
spikels
If this guy is really something different, why does he sound like every other
politician?

“I’m running to tackle the issues that most affect families in South Jersey,
like too few jobs, too high student debt, the need to act on climate change
and the opportunity to make vital investments in education and
infrastructure,” he says. “On those and many other issues, the leadership of
the House of Representatives have obstructed any attempts at moving our
country forward.”

And why does he repeatedly belittle coding?

“I’d been involved with computers since I was a little kid,” he says, “but
what I learned in college is that there were a lot opportunities to apply
problem solving at a larger level."

“Software developers aren’t the only ones under represented in congress."

You would think in an interview with Wired you could be a little less the
generic politician. It would be interesting to hear his thoughts on
healthcare.gov or, as he wants to represent Atlantic City, online gambling.
Hopefully that would elicit responses other than cliches.

~~~
unethical_ban
>And why does he repeatedly belittle coding?

The same reason other articles on HN in recent days/months/years have: People
spend their efforts on sexting apps and Candy Crush ripoffs instead of
tackling "real change".

It's hard, complex, and I don't really blame young talent for going after the
big money... but it can look pretty frivolous at times.

~~~
humanrebar
When was the last time you dropped off a check for your travel agent and
picked up a paper map on your way out?

Software changes things a lot. Efficiencies let people spend their time,
money, and energy on bettering their lives in other ways.

~~~
araes
Or it allows the market to get more out of each person while still paying them
the same.

Or it just offloads a function that we used to do without perceptible effort
(remembering phone numbers, land navigation)

Or it does give us time, which we then spend on software's other products
(social media, sexting apps, Candy Crush, etc..), which are compelling to our
brain, but whose betterment of our lives is arguable. (Says hypocrite posting
on HN)

The issue for a lot of folks is that there are a bunch of solvable, real world
problems, that a traditional meatspace hacker might have tackled, but much
like the financial industry, the easy money of software app. startup culture
is perceived to be sucking the air out of other forms of hacking.

------
julienchastang
We already have one coder/entrepreneur in congress, Jared Polis, member of the
US House from Colorado's 2nd congressional district. We could, of course, use
more elected representatives like Mr. Polis.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Polis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Polis)

~~~
pilom
Seriously! How is Boulder Colorado the only district that has been able to
elect a coder? I'm looking at you California.

------
polskibus
I read the headline and thought that it's about Stallman becoming a
Congressman. I'm slightly disappointed.

------
davecolenj
I'd love to jump into this discussion. If you've got specific questions about
what I stand for, fire away. Generally, though, my campaign focuses on the
issues of job creation and education, because those are the most pressing
issues I see here where I grew up in South Jersey. Every family has a story
about someone who lost a job, spent too long unemployed, maybe lost healthcare
in the process, and had to settle for a less stable job without benefits, less
pay, or an hourly schedule. And everyone knows someone saddled with $30k in
student loan debt settling for a minimum wage job after a degree, because the
entry level jobs are gone or filled by those with more experience.

My district as a whole has not weathered the recession as well as many
employed in our profession have. That's my top focus. I'm happy to engage a
debate on how we do that or hear your thoughts.

I am not diminishing the work developers do in any way. I think the article's
mention of "downplaying" just serves to put that in context of the issues I'm
focusing on. Being a developer, having had the chance to work with an
incredible team and contribute to growing a new company, give me important
experience and a novel perspective compared to those who usually run for
office at this level. I've tried to capture that here:
[https://medium.com/p/ce7c0dc63aaa](https://medium.com/p/ce7c0dc63aaa)

As for something unique, I have actually worked on government IT systems, as
well as private sector ones. Go watch a Congressional hearing on a tech issue.
Tell me you think more of us shouldn't be sitting in that room setting the
record straight. Congress should represent all people, and include all
professions like engineers and developers, not to mention people under 40.

Also, we're just a few weeks into the campaign, but next week I'll be posting
a more detailed policy platform on
[http://coleforcongress.com](http://coleforcongress.com), so I hope you'll
sign up and stay engaged.

To the cynics, as I said in the comments of the article:

> Yes, the influence of money in elections is corrupting, but I refuse to give
> up on the idea of representative democracy. I'm willing to fight for it,
> even if the deck seems stacked. I see no shame in giving it my all.

> And it's a simple formula for how we win: less money from more people vs
> more money from less people. If people like you and me who recognize the
> system is broken put our necks on the line, work together, and contribute
> what we can, we will win. There are more of us who want to fix the system
> than those who benefit from it.

> So why not join me? [http://coleforcongress.com](http://coleforcongress.com)

~~~
djb_hackernews
The intersection of jobs and software development is interesting to me.

With both politicians and business leaders lobbying for the expansion of H1B
and related work visas, the nature of how those visas are currently used, and
the repeated findings that there isn't a STEM shortage I wonder where you
stand on such things.

To provide some topics you can reply to:

* H1B visas should be a last resort. They should either be more expensive or more restrictive.

* H1B visas should not have citizenship tied to the employer, if they are that badly needed their citizenship should be fast tracked

* Employers should be more incentivized to provide training programs for US citizens before hiring foreign workers

* Similar to Obamas focus on creating a university rating, a school should also need to report foreign student graduation rates and if they stay to work on a foreign worker visa. There are graduate programs that merely exist to allow foreign students a way into this country which ultimately drives up the cost of education, displaces citizens from the classroom, and then once they graduate they get the job that the citizen isn't qualified for (because she was priced out and displaced)

~~~
dchichkov
I would suggest taking a global perspective and thinking what should be good
for the _world_ and not only US. Think trade, cultural exchange, international
collaboration in research (think of recent publications that often have
hundreds of names on them, from many countries).

When you start thinking globally, term like 'foreign worker' would start
sounding ridiculous to you. And protectionist policies probably would stop
making any sense as well.

On the other hand, naturalization should take some time. Fast track
citizenship doesn't make much sense, as it does take some time to get the
culture of the place [e.g to serve public duties, like jury duty, etc].

------
tipiwi
I love the fact that this guy is bold enough to believe he can run for
Congress. Americans have such a powerful open minded attitude... He will
probably fail but will give more visibility to the issues that matter most to
him. He will also learn a few things about politics and press along the way
and who knows what he can do next with this knowledge. I say go for it!

------
robgering
Here's the link to his GitHub page:
[https://github.com/dhcole](https://github.com/dhcole)

~~~
emackn
yeah, you should dig into that.

------
warfangle
If/when he gets in office he should put the bills he sponsors, cosponsors etc
up on github as diffs to the main corpus of US law.

------
wellsjohnston
lol he made the whitehouse website...not exactly an "open source coder"

~~~
emackn
but WH.gov is Drupal ;)

