Here’s a tech-friendly cheat sheet to understanding Congress

Recently-passed Federal Communications Commission reform legislation serves as a good example to help show technologists and entrepreneurs how DC works in terms they might relate to.

Statements from the CTIA, which represents the wireless industry and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association used almost the exact same language to describe the benefits of the bill. So did Greg Walden (R-OR), the bill’s sponsor. This is hardly an accident -- DC insiders use jargon, too, they just call them talking points.

• DC isn’t binary even though it pretends it is. Partisanship rules the TV airwaves and media because conflict makes a great story. And while most politics is theater, designed to get a politician ratings and curry favor among his or her base, real compromises can and do happen behind the scenes.
• Legislation doesn’t follow if-then statements either. In programming you can tell a computer that if item A happens, then it should implement Item B and D. But when it comes to legislation and regulation there’s no guarantee it will play out like you want.
• No one talks about tradeoffs. In the tech world there are very clear tradeoffs that most engineers will admit. If you want faster memory, you might have to pay more for Flash. If you want a brighter display your battery life will go down. In DC the tradeoffs are there, but no one talks about them.