President Obama is now the President. George W. Bush stood on the platform and watched as his Presidency quietly ended and Barack's Presidency was quietly started. The peaceful transfer of power is the reason we outlive Communist countries and Monarchies. It is one of the overlooked features of our Constitution so take a moment and appreciate the genius of the men who crafted it.
I was worried that the Bush regime would ignore the elections and the two-term limitation on the Presidency. I was worried that the October surprise would be that a made-up national threat would 'appear' and W would be forced to suspend the elections for our country's safety. I'm breathing a lot easier today.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Constitutional Control System
One of the major methods to control processes and manufacturing plants is the PID controller. PID stands for Proportional, Integral, and Differential control and these terms come right out of calculus and electronics.
The Differential control reacts fast to errors (but might react too much). The Proportional control reacts proportional to the size of the error and is slower than the differential. The slowest is the Integral control which reacts to cumulative errors.
I always thought the checks and balances were like rock-paper-scissors. Now I think our government is similar to a PID controller. The executive branch can react quickly, the Legislative branch ponders issues more than the executive, and the slowest of all is the Judicial.
The analogy isn't perfect but it has helped me think of how well crafted the Constitution is. The founders were very smart and very lucky.
The last 8 years should be a caution to us all of what can happen when our Constitutional control system fails.
The Differential control reacts fast to errors (but might react too much). The Proportional control reacts proportional to the size of the error and is slower than the differential. The slowest is the Integral control which reacts to cumulative errors.
I always thought the checks and balances were like rock-paper-scissors. Now I think our government is similar to a PID controller. The executive branch can react quickly, the Legislative branch ponders issues more than the executive, and the slowest of all is the Judicial.
The analogy isn't perfect but it has helped me think of how well crafted the Constitution is. The founders were very smart and very lucky.
The last 8 years should be a caution to us all of what can happen when our Constitutional control system fails.
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