Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

A scheme for the government to use the idle computer time of taxpayers. I think the scheme will work, but I wish it never happens.

An idea struck me this morning for a way to save billions of dollars of taxpayers money (without eliminating half of the Federal government). Here is the idea:

The government dumps all its computers and doesn’t replace them.

But, you might ask, how does the government do its job without computers? Simple,

The government will use idle computer time on the taxpayers’ computers.

There are practically limitless supplies of idle computer time out there. As evidence, consider the scientific research being done on donated idle computer time. Here is one place where you can donate your idle computer time to charity. Here is an IBM site where you can donate idle computer time to scientific research.

This is a simple scheme. Whenever an American buys a computer for personal use, software is loaded on that computer that allows the government to access the computer when idle. This is legal as Congress can use its authority to regulate interstate commerce. Surely some clever attorneys can work the details. The interstate-commerce clause has been used for far-less valuable purposes.

When the government employees come to work, they log onto a really cheap computer device that accesses a taxpayers’ computer. The taxpayer is at work as well, so they aren’t using their home computer. The government might as well use the taxpayer’s idle computer. Look at it this way: if a taxpayer can buy a home computer and not use it all day, they must be rich or at least medium-to-sort-of-almost rich. Whatever we call them, it is obvious that such taxpayers can afford to help out for the common good of the country.

So there you have it. The government just uses the idle computers of the taxpayers.

P.S. – I wish that this never happens. I think it will happen one day as the scheme is almost flawless. Then again, someone in the government will find a way for this scheme to cost more money than it saves.