For the Love of God…STOP Trying to Make Government Simple.

I get it. You’re scared. Maybe even feeling a little guilty. You took your democracy for granted and now, you’re trying to stop what feels like a slow-motion-train-wreck, before so much that matters gets smashed into itty-bitty bits.

You’re right. WE’VE GOT TO DO SOMETHING!!! And we’ve GOT TO do it now. It’s going to take an epic, effing, effort to slow these trains down. So, everybody better report their asses to deck, ASAP.

Except…who are we kidding? We’re a bunch of dumb, lazy shits. Heaven forbid, there’s an ACTUAL revolution, because if it ain’t simple or easy, we know, no one will have the time or inclination. Right?

So…we make it as simple as possible. ”Just call your member of Congress and repeat this one simple phrase!” or “You can hold your representatives accountable, if you just download this one easy app!”

This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve heard it all before. I was a political press secretary, with a master’s degree in public policy. Do you know how many times I was told I had to “dumb something down,” because people won’t pay attention if the message is “too nuanced or complicated?” Everybody knows you can’t get a large group of people to care about a problem, unless you make it simple. Right?

Yes, but…DON’T YOU SEE??!!! The fact that such a large group of people thinks this stuff is simple IS THE PROBLEM.

Because this stuff ISN’T simple. Balancing the federal budget of the world’s largest, most complex economy IS NOT like balancing your family’s check book. (Unless, of course, not making a payment on your car loan could put half a million people out of work.) There IS A REASON the laws Congress writes are hundreds of pages long.

And when we DON’T get that…

…when we DON’T realize that NOTHING the government does is simple…

…when we DON’T understand that every government policy can have massive unintended consequences…

…when we DON’T appreciate the fact that one simple policy will NEVER work the same way for EVERY segment of our society (Because yes, a policy won’t work the same for people who live in cities, as it will for people who live in the suburbs, let alone in rural communities…or for people who drive to work versus walk to work versus take mass transit or telecommute or are living on retirement…or that our own personal experience in this country does not mean we know anything about what it’s like to be one of the 300,000,000+ other people, who live in this country, let alone the 7,000,000,000+ other people who call planet earth home.)

…when we forget that there are always exceptions and exceptions to the exceptions and that it pays to consult experts and have enough experience to know what you don’t know before you write a policy that will impact it…

…when we forget these things, when we think this stuff isn’t complicated and that legislation should be simple enough to fit on an index card, THAT’S HOW we end up with a president, who thinks this stuff is simple. THAT’S HOW we end up with a White House that sees nothing wrong with issuing an executive order, without talking to the department responsible for administering it or thinking through the ramifications it could have for someone like an Iraqi interpreter, who put his life on the line for American troops. THAT’S HOW we end up with a president, who doesn’t even consider the possibility that policies intended to prevent terrorism could end up encouraging it or who approves a military operation “without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations.”

YES…THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS, WHEN WE THINK THIS STUFF IS SIMPLE.

I’m sorry to be so harsh. I know your heart is in the right place and you’re just trying to help. Maybe you make apps for a living, so making an app is how you think you can help. And how can’t it help? How can it hurt to reorganize data on your Member of Congress’s voting history in a user-friendly way or to pair that data with available data on campaign contributions? Sunshine is a good thing, right?

Well…the problem is, 90% of what happens in Congress CAN’T be easily quantified with data. Knowing how your Member of Congress voted on a given piece of legislation, only gives you a very tiny window into the work they are doing on your behalf. And focusing so much sunshine on the two things you can quantify — votes and campaign contributions — makes the things you can’t quantify harder to see. It leads us to the conclusion that the two points must be correlated, even though, that’s a little like concluding that global warming isn’t real, because it’s cold outside. There is SO MUCH more to it than that. Reality is complicated. GOVERNMENT is complicated, and you can’t simplify it without consequences.

Hell, even making it easier to contact elected officials has consequences.

I mean, you’re right. Members of Congress DO pay attention to constituent phone calls and letters, but the reason they pay attention to those things is BECAUSE they take time and energy. The more time and energy you invest in lobbying them on an issue, the more they know you care about that issue and that it will likely impact your vote. So, can you see, how making it easier to contact Congress diminishes that message?

I know this is hard and there’s so much to know. And no, we don’t have the time to sit around and debate the nuances of health and immigration reform, when our president seems hellbent on playing train-chicken with our democracy. But if you want to get control of that train…if you want to get better at hiring conductors, who actually know how to operate the train or — to untangle the metaphor — if you want to start electing officials, who know more about governing than maximizing their retweets…then YOU NEED TO STOP EXPECTING THIS STUFF TO BE SIMPLE.

I’m not asking you to become an expert on public policy or to spend nights reading Congressional testimony and learning the nuances of parliamentary procedure. The whole point of electing representatives is to spare us the burden of having to get into all of those details. Rather, I’m asking you to recognize that nothing about government is simple and that a red light should go off in your head, if/when someone suggests that it is.

In other words, STOP letting thirty second attack ads tell you who to vote for and STOP getting outraged over angry memes. (I’m sorry, but NOTHING in government is simple enough to be accurately conveyed via meme.) And when that red light goes off in your head, when you realize someone (even someone on your side) is trying to win your support or convince you they’re right and the other guy is wrong by suggesting any of this stuff IS simple, you don’t need to know all the reasons it’s not simple or how and why the issue is complicated. You just need to stop and think to yourself or say, “I’m sure it’s more complicated than that,” and then resolve to reserve judgement until you get more information.

I’m not suggesting doing that is as simple or easy as I just made it sound, but do you have any idea what a difference it would make?

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