Thinking that this is about TDD or software management is to grotesquely miss reality.

This whole fiasco has demonstrated, to an incredible level of clarity, why we've reached a point where government is too big to work. This has nothing whatsoever to do with who's President or which party controls what. This is a simple case of an entity that has grown so large, complex, ignorant and bureaucratic that it simply can't figure out how to produce anything useful, from laws to websites.

The difference this time around is that this has been very public. This is a problem that forces people to pay attention and get involved. Healthcare affects everyone directly and people care about it.

Most of us who have understood the devolution of government over the years have recognized the incompetence of the organization as a whole for quite some time. Some have been more vocal than others in trying to highlight the issue.

It's a difficult position to hold because it is relentlessly attack by those who, through indoctrination or religious-like following, stick to their respective parties and simply won't even admit they are being screwed despite mounting evidence to the contrary. The President lies about healthcare to the country and the world dozens of times and Liberal media contorts itself to try to figure out a way to spin it into some alternate reality that makes sense. We had exactly the same kind of thing happen with Bush and his wars, but this is about the ACA. We let them lie. Some of us see it and call them on it while others shoot us down based on party loyalty and continue to support the effectively criminal behavior.

The difficulty in gaining mass awareness for these kinds of problems has been in that most people, at the end of the day, couldn't care less about what's going on inside the sausage-making factory. They are too busy trying to earn a living and going through their daily lives. There are things in most people's lives that are far more interesting to them than what government does and how it works. True to this I think it is fair to say that most US voters are utterly uninformed and get their opinions (and voting decisions) from the media --mostly TV.

Now things are different. This is something that is important to everyone. Health, food and housing are top-level concerns for everyone. This ACA/Obamacare mess is achieving something no government critic could possibly buy for any amount of money: Bring to the forefront the incompetence, waste and mismanagement that has become part and parcel of what our government has been about for years.

Everything in our government is done this way. Everything. You just don't see it or don't care to dig into it for other issues. Healthcare just made it first page news for everyone.

Everyone now sees how the sausages are being made. There is no way to hide it. Everyone can now balance the equation of what politicians said and promised them against what they've actually delivered. A family who's healthcare premiums doubled, who's deductible skyrocketed and who lost the ability to see their doctors at their hospital has no way to satisfy a promise of lower premiums, better coverage and keeping what you like.

I still remember Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa deciding to change the outcome of a vote in a very public way right in front of the cameras while a woman came over to him and said "Let them do what they are going to do", all of it picked-up by the microphones and cameras. There is no shame or respect any more. Politicians know they can get away with murder because there are no consequences for such things as publicly and visibly changing a vote or spewing out lies.

Hopefully people are starting to think about just how ridiculous it is to give a blank check or a pass to anyone in government. I also hope they are starting to become more convinced that if we don't make those who lie to us responsible for their lies we are never going to improve government.

If it had not been for Snowden who in government would have told us what was going on with the NSA? They've been lying to us for years and they would have continued to do so had it not been for him. They lied knowing there are no measurable consequences for their actions. At worst they move elsewhere in government and live goes on. It's a joke.

Imagine if you were involved in a contract negotiation for you business, signing the papers for your home purchase, auto purchase or a lease rental agreement and the other party said something akin to "Don't worry. We have to sign the contract to see what's in it". How fast would you run from that one? You would, right?

Then, why is it that we let those in government play such games? By extension they --the governing class-- over time, start feeling they can do anything, to anyone at any time. I would not be surprised if this is the sort of thing that leads to mass surveillance programs not being given a second thought within that community. If you can get away with murder you keep murdering, plain and simple.

The solution, I am afraid, is not technological, it's political. I've said this before: If you are in tech you need to be smart about politics because bad government and bad policy can be more destructive to your efforts than bad code. The NSA fiasco alone will probably cost US companies billions. Trust is a very difficult thing to regain, whether it is with your girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband, company or country. Once trust is broken it takes orders of magnitude more work to regain it. If ever.

So, there you are, becoming a highly skilled technologist thinking that government and political issues are of no importance to your mission, only to find out that your international trust and market potential keeps getting boned by ignorant fools in government who really have no clue what they are doing. Government is almost the only entity that can completely destroy your startup with the stroke of an ignorant pen. Look at the startups fighting against the transportation and housing unions, rules and regs. How different would things be in terms of competition and progress if those barriers where not there?

Bottom line: You have to be informed and get involved. You have to fight against indoctrination to see what reality looks like. Stop taking other's opinions as your own. Question everything, research, critically observe, measure and use your CS and mathematical skills to model. In other words, be the high information citizen.

The devil isn't in the details, it's in politics.