This. The government in the US is thought of as a thing that exists over there. Like a king in his castle. But we call it a democracy. And in a democracy, governance is just the rules that we set up to keep our communities operating in a sustainable way that provides the community members with the highest quality of life. So the government, is really just us following our own rules.
Rules that are well designed have a defined scope, and address known caveats and risks. Good governance rules come with qualitative and quantitative monitoring built into them, as well as periodic evaluation. The evaluation should identify whether the rule is still providing the intended service to society, how well it is doing so, and how to improve it based on lessons learned and ever-evolving social context. Then the rule is iteratively improved so that the intended outcomes, both statistically and culturally, are improved, based on evidence and feedback.
The rules themselves would be governed by a set of agreed-upon principles that reflect the culture and aspirations of a people, usually in the form of a constitution or charter. These principles, likewise, would be subject to periodic review for improvement or retiring to history.
My point is that the world changes, society changes, culture changes, the environment changes, people change and so too should the principles and rules which we design to make our lives better, also change.
The longer the gap between their last update and the present moment, the worse of a job they do in addressing the needs of the present moment.
This. The government in the US is thought of as a thing that exists over there. Like a king in his castle. But we call it a democracy. And in a democracy, governance is just the rules that we set up to keep our communities operating in a sustainable way that provides the community members with the highest quality of life. So the government, is really just us following our own rules.
Rules that are well designed have a defined scope, and address known caveats and risks. Good governance rules come with qualitative and quantitative monitoring built into them, as well as periodic evaluation. The evaluation should identify whether the rule is still providing the intended service to society, how well it is doing so, and how to improve it based on lessons learned and ever-evolving social context. Then the rule is iteratively improved so that the intended outcomes, both statistically and culturally, are improved, based on evidence and feedback.
The rules themselves would be governed by a set of agreed-upon principles that reflect the culture and aspirations of a people, usually in the form of a constitution or charter. These principles, likewise, would be subject to periodic review for improvement or retiring to history.
My point is that the world changes, society changes, culture changes, the environment changes, people change and so too should the principles and rules which we design to make our lives better, also change.
The longer the gap between their last update and the present moment, the worse of a job they do in addressing the needs of the present moment.