> He didn't abuse his lapsed license in a professional capacity
Yes, I know that. And yet the state licensing board kept after him. In other words, the state licensing board is obviously not applying objective professional standards to his behavior. Why not? Because it's a government organization, i.e., it's political, not professional. So the only way to fix the problem he's having is to not have the licensing organization be a government organization.
> In other words, the state licensing board is obviously not applying objective professional standards to his behavior. Why not? Because it's a government organization, i.e., it's political, not professional.
Please, you have this backwards. It is acting like a private professional guild, which gets to choose its own criteria for who gets to be in the club. Who gets to “define” what HTML is or who defines what is conduct unbecoming of an Elk.
As the strong towns guy is out, as government entity the licensing board is not permitted to do that: it has to follow the public criteria (which are set by statute and litigated by the courts) and, regardless of statute, follow constitutional constraints such as those of the first amendment.
I think it is unhelpful to approach every question with the assumption that every government action is inherently corrupt.
I agree that if the organization is applying rules unfairly or disproportionately then we need to fix it, but I don't see how privatizing it will do anything but push the problem around. Human organizations have a natural tendency towards politicization because humans are inherently political creatures, orgs should be designed to resist abuse regardless of where their roots are planted.
That "because" is glossing over a massive leap in logic. "Not applying objective professional standards" is not just a government problem, as pretty much anyone with experience in a large-scale private organization can attest.
This is a conspicuously narrow view on what politics are.
A professional association or licensing board or whatever similar structure, regardless of whether or not it is embedded in government, is textbook political.
That's entirely separate from the issue of whether or not they exercise restraint and engage constructively when their credibility is challenged.
Yes, I know that. And yet the state licensing board kept after him. In other words, the state licensing board is obviously not applying objective professional standards to his behavior. Why not? Because it's a government organization, i.e., it's political, not professional. So the only way to fix the problem he's having is to not have the licensing organization be a government organization.