guess he doesn't like to work weekends.
PresidentObama on GitHub
61–68 of 68 posts
Re: PresidentObama on GitHub
#62I'd be glad to see a public key on whitehouse.gov and a signed message on the GitHub account. Anyone could register this name.
[edit] whoops, didn't realize it was a bot
Re: PresidentObama on GitHub
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could you explain why? It seems like just as strange a technological barrier (for the average citizen) as the current process of proposing a law.
I'll try. I think the founders got an impressive amount of the "free and open nation" concepts right. I think the Sears and Roebuck Catalog was an effective tool in its time. I would rather order from an online store than the Sears and Roebuck Catalog. It'll be faster, more responsive, more transparent experience. The store owners intend it and the internet as a medium allows it to a greater extent than was previousl…
I watched this TED Talk last night which I found very interesting:
http://www.ted.com/talks/pia_mancini_how_to_upgrade_democrac...
> Pia Mancini and her colleagues want to upgrade democracy in Argentina and beyond. Through their open-source mobile platform they want to bring citizens inside the legislative process, and run candidates who will listen to what they say.
Re: PresidentObama on GitHub
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could you explain why? It seems like just as strange a technological barrier (for the average citizen) as the current process of proposing a law.
Imagine if we could analyze a current law (ex. Computer Fraud & Abuse Act) and tweak the parts that are being abused or used in a way that they weren't intended. Or each time a law is added (merged with Master branch) we could see who voted in favor of that law (i.e. greater transparency). Other countries could take our constitution/laws up to a certain point (commit) and then branch off and implement their own appro…
Wait, isn't there already a website which lists who voted which way in the united states? If not that's astounding.
Re: PresidentObama on GitHub
#65It'd be interesting to see a system where a government had a GitHub and people could submit laws as pull-requests
Doable with Ethereum and Smart Contracts..
Re: PresidentObama on GitHub
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
They do. Type up a bill and mail it to your Congresspeople. I don't see how the medium changes proposing laws.
I think the difference is that with a PR it's public knowledge if the government responds/acknowledges/denies the request. It's also easier to type a bill and email it rather than use snail mail (I'm assuming that's what you meant).
You could e-mail a bill you wrote to your Congressman right now. Congress may be out of touch, but they do have e-mail.
The transparency angle is interesting, but I still don't think anything would change. Pull requests would be ignored like petitions, or receive canned responses like letters.
The primary problem here is not technological.
Re: PresidentObama on GitHub
#67I guess the username BarackObama was already taken?
Re: PresidentObama on GitHub
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could you explain why? It seems like just as strange a technological barrier (for the average citizen) as the current process of proposing a law.
I'll try. I think the founders got an impressive amount of the "free and open nation" concepts right. I think the Sears and Roebuck Catalog was an effective tool in its time. I would rather order from an online store than the Sears and Roebuck Catalog. It'll be faster, more responsive, more transparent experience. The store owners intend it and the internet as a medium allows it to a greater extent than was previousl…
I think you're saying "the current system is antiquated, and we need a new one," but I'm not convinced Github is the right one. Sure, Github has great ideas like forking and transparency, but it also has a ton of barriers, like memorizing a bunch of terminal commands/flags or using a relatively buggy UI. You could also argue that Github reduces the weight of a (citizen) vote or a comment. Just because we trust anonymous feedback for products on Amazon and news stories does not mean we should have the same trust in legislation.
I think what's needed is a new system designed from the ground up, using the good ideas that git has but avoiding the limiting ones.