The Unpaid Intern

"People tried to fit what they were seeing to what they were believing." "They'll look at existing data and try to put it in their own model."

I went to my internship and toured the entire Capitol, which David frequently referred to as the "cook's tour". I met several people from all different areas who worked for different representatives. One of the things he emphasized to me was that "you catch more flies with honey," especially in a place like the Capitol, as he smiled and knew the names of most of the people we passed by along the way. It took me a while to absorb all of the information which spanned across about 4 buildings and 22 floors. We went through the Senate and the House of Representatives, saw where the governor meets with the board of governors, and passed by several important offices. I often got mixed up for a moment, but managed to somehow figure a rough layout in my head Of where everything is. 

After the tour we sat in the cafeteria on the lower level and David showed me the bill he was working on, what steps he was going through, and he explained the importance of going line by line to try and dissect each part. One of the most important things from his explanation was that you have to fully understand each word and if you don't get it, you can't see all of the possible outcomes. Another thing that David stressed was to always be a little paranoid, because a sentence could have underlying implications with just the addition or subtraction of a word, or choosing "and" instead of "or". 

It reminded me a lot about a puzzle, and being able to think of every single wrong thing that could happen so that then you can present the findings to whichever organization you're lobbying for. After the findings are presented, the organization decided whether to support, not support, or try to change things in the bill. Every single piece is important, and I realized that there is so much lying underneath that has to be dug up and so much research has to be done. It gave me a newly found appreciation for the people in government who know so much. David commented a few times saying that, "it's never boring, I learn new things every day."