This year’s elections have the potential to be one of the most defining in our nation’s history. Whoever gets elected both locally and nationally—and the laws and legislative action they will instigate—will greatly influence how the first decade of this century plays out. These elections set the stage for the direction our country will take in the 2010s and beyond.

Crucial to America’s future success will be the continued strength of its engineering base. So what are you, as a structural engineer, doing to ensure that the candidates with the best ideas, programs, and philosophies get elected? If you’re doing nothing, or if you’re just plain not interested, you may want to reconsider.

Because our fast-changing, sophisticated world is increasingly technologically dependent, those we elect must understand the ramifications of decisions involving advanced technology. The U.S. engineering community, more qualified than any other group for providing elected officials with such guidance, needs to step forward and be heard like never before. The destiny of our profession depends on it. Do we want to be considered technicians or leaders in helping address tomorrow’s pressing issues?

Although seeing to it that funding for our decaying infrastructure—collapsing bridges and other structures—receives priority, our pragmatic engineering-based thinking and problem-solving skills are needed many other places as well. Among the big-picture priorities, the following items come to mind: environmental concerns and sustainable development; exploration of space and the oceans; terrorism and national security; spiraling infrastructure burdens fueled by an exploding world population; low-cost workers from around the globe, visas, off-shoring, and out-sourcing; and socialized medicine, runaway entitlement programs, and taxation.

With these kinds of issues on the docket, it’s evident that 2008 is the time for structural engineers to heed Plato’s advice: "If intelligent people don’t get involved in politics, they’ll soon find they are being ruled by the less intelligent." Many whose glass is half empty contend that this prophecy is already being fulfilled and there’s little hope. Those whose glass is half full on the other hand see the coming years as having much opportunity.

Now, I’m no quixotic. I don’t believe that structural engineers en masse will rush out to get elected to high-level public positions only because they’re needed in them and would do good things. In fact, the probable overall predisposition of the average structural engineer mostly reflects political naivety. Many in our profession find politics to be a "dirty business." Even so, several structural engineers in contemporary times have been effective public leaders—not the least of whom were Dan Evans, former U.S. senator and three-term governor of the state of Washington, and Andy Card, former chief of staff for President George W. Bush.

Even though it would be great to have more like Dan and Andy serving in public office, history shows that it won’t happen, not in great numbers anyhow. So what other opportunities exist for structural engineers that will allow us to participate in political processes and influence public policy?
There are many avenues we can take. We can participate in activities that will add our voices to the debates on the direction our country is taking. We can choose activities that have a far-looking approach on how to strengthen our much-needed engineering base so U.S. engineers remain leaders in the world. Included among the most important wide-ranging activities are these four:

* Actively participate in the committees or groups promoting the political candidates of your choice. When they’re elected, stay in contact with them to ensure they are fulfilling their election promises.

* Get appointed to meaningful government boards and commissions, ones that are forward focusing and set public policy and direction.

* Become an adviser to elected officials, educating them on the nuances of engineering practices and showing how sound decisions that require engineering expertise benefit everyone.

* Form and/or participate on broad-based coalitions that encourage useful and fair tort. At the same time, promote elimination of damaging legislation that discourages innovation.

Before you commit your support and vote to any candidates, make sure you’re comfortable with where they stand on all issues important to you. Do this even if these are self-serving items like reducing frivolous lawsuits that are stifling inventiveness and burdening Americans with enormously high insurance costs.

More than anything, though, make this the year you actively help influence our country’s political course and participate in establishing plans for its success—as well as our profession’s—for the rest of this century.

Richard Weingardt, P.E., is CEO and chairman of Richard Weingardt Consultants, Inc., a Denver-based structural engineering firm. He can be reached via e-mail at rweingardt@gostructural.com.