At a time when the antics in Washington are on everyone’s mind, it strikes me that we should be grateful that mesh generation has nothing in common with politics.

1. There’s no partisanship in meshing. CFD practitioners don’t blindly adhere to a party line and only use one type of meshing or another. We are a practical lot and will use whatever helps us get the job done. I won’t try to say which mesh type, structured or unstructured, is conservative and which is liberal. But maybe we can agree that meshless methods are like independents.
2. Compromise isn’t a sign of weakness when it comes to meshing.  Some politicians would rather chew off their own arms than compromise on some principle or another. But compromise is what engineering’s all about.  We know that when given a choice between good, fast, and cheap we can only choose two.
3. Meshing isn’t a popularity contest. Unlike politics, in which it’s all about getting elected rather than leading and governing, CFD and mesh generation is a meritocracy – if your stuff works, you’ll rise to the top. Contrast this with the old saying about politicians: Anyone who’s qualified to lead isn’t electable and anyone who’s electable isn’t qualified to lead.
4. Corruption isn’t an issue when it comes to mesh generation. They say adversity isn’t the true test of a person – most people can survive hard times. The true test is power. How often do we hear about politicians getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar? For better or worse, mesh generation is at the bottom of the CFD food chain with no power whatsoever, so there are few temptations to abuse it.
5. People in mesh generation know what they’re talking about. Politicians are experts in getting elected. The consequence of being successful, however, is that between campaigns, they have to address topics they have less expertise in – such as finance, commerce, international relations, defense, intelligence, and social programs. Folks doing mesh generation have dedicated themselves to developing expertise in one particular area.
6. There’s no posturing in meshing. If you’ve watched the State of the Union address on TV, you’ve seen the President make a statement followed by the congressmen in his party standing and applauding while the other party remains seated. Can you imagine this at a conference when a researcher is presenting and after every slide, the half of the room that likes the mesh generation ideas leaps to their feet?
7. Mesh generators don’t need to look good on TV. A commentator once said that the one thing you can’t do in politics is look bad on TV. For better or worse, no one wants to put mesh generation people on TV.
8. We need meshing. Like that TV series “Life After People”, imagine that one day there weren’t any more meshes. CFD would be over. Now imagine there weren’t any more politicians. I’m having a hard time imagining a downside.

If this rant hasn’t turned you off from voting, we need you to vote on a special short course topic at the Pointwise User Group Meeting 2011 coming this November.  Cast your vote today at pointwise.com/shortcourse.  (But no campaigning within 100 yards of the website.)