A NASA Engineer Is Running For Congress
The NASA Rocket Scientist Leaving Mars for Politics, The Atlantic
“A few Fridays ago, Tracy Van Houten drove to a registrar’s office to pick up the paperwork she would need to run for Congress. Doing so would mean giving up her role as an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory – a dream job that she had held for 13 years. … Van Houten is now officially running to represent the 34th Congressional District of California in the U.S. House. The seat’s former occupant, Xavier Becerra, was appointed as attorney general of California last December, and 23 candidates are now vying to replace him in a special election, to be held in April. The roster includes experienced politicians, activists, and lawyers. Van Houten, who is something of a wildcard, is the only rocket scientist.”
I wish her the best. I’m sad to see such a talented woman engineer leave NASA to run in a very competitive special election (just to become a back-bencher congressperson), but the article says she was planning to leave and run anyways in 2018 or 2020.
Every single vote matters if we Democrats are going to take back the House from the corrupt machine that controls it right now.
This is happening all over the country. While this Los Angeles District is historically a Democratic stronghold, across the country we are seeing an upswell of candidates willing to run in the Democratic Party, even against historically Republican seats. It’s akin to the Tea Party Revolution that was so interesting and that swept a semi-permanent majority into the US House.
Not much chance of swinging the House, and so not much chance of affecting NASA policy unless some key figures are defeated (which happens; remember the Virginia election?).
Good. We need more women in congress, IMHO. Women are currently under represented in congress.
And more engineers in congress might help too, as long as they put aside their prejudices and approach the problems presented to them in an analytical way.
So you are just going to suggest that she give up and not even try?
If she has some private business experience, yes. If straight from college to working for the government, no. After 16 years at NASA (after working in the private sector) I have one requirement when hiring an engineer (or a tech or a machinist): they must have private sector experience. It’s the only way things will improve. If they are “fresh outs”, as they call them, they assume all the bad practices they observe at NASA are normal and just go with the flow. We need a revolution.
It is a fallacy that the private sector always has better practices that the government.
G.
I speak from experience. I worked in the private sector for 6 years and then at NASA for 16. I think 20% of the 16 was spent sorting out bad practices and poor design habits that all the lifers didn’t know were wrong. Though I give them the benefit of the doubt, they worked in government all their lives, what do they know?
You are generalizing and doing everyone a disservice in so doing.
“Rocket scientist” is a term of affection and admiration, well-deserved by Ms. Van Houton (and, incidentally, many of the denizens herein).