Our government seeks more and more control.
Our government is not competent.
These two statements are both true, and together amount to a nightmare for institutional credibility. A government that seeks more control must at the very least demonstrate credibility in implementing its goals; a government that is incompetent can only regain legitimacy by limiting its authority. And yet we have a government that presents the worst of both worlds: incapacity to perform its most basic functions, combined with an ever-expanding encroachment into daily life.
Thus, this week, the Federal Aviation Administration was forced to ground virtually all flights in the United States after an outage in the so-called Notice to Air Missions systems, designed to warn pilots of weather problems, runway issues or other obstacles. The NOTAM system relies on a reportedly outmoded computer system that has not been updated for years. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is most famous for taking a two-month paternity leave and then bragging about it repeatedly on national television, helpfully commented, “There was a systems issue overnight that led to a ground stop because of the way safety information was moving through the system.” He then reported this problem to President Joe Biden, who helpfully commented that Buttigieg ought to “restore the system quickly and safely, and to determine causes.”
Job well done, gentlemen.
The air traffic control nightmare is but the latest example of a government well over its skis. Whether we are talking about the nation’s scattershot but brutal COVID-19 lockdown and mandate policies, its utter incapacity to handle a historically unprecedented flood of illegal immigration across our southern border, railroad strikes barely averted by congressional force or the inability to recruit members of our military, our government seems to be failing repeatedly at issues that implicate core competency.
And yet at the same time, our government proves itself shockingly unable to perform its most basic functions, it continues to expand its ambitions. Thus, this week, we found out that the Consumer Product Safety Commission may consider banning gas stoves in the home, supposedly thanks to the risk of childhood asthma caused. There are approximately 40 million households in the United States currently using gas stoves.
When governments promise much but deliver little — and when they seek to control much, but only succeed in controlling the most minute and irritating aspects of daily life — they lose their legitimacy. And that is precisely what has been occurring over the course of the last century in the United States. The growth of the regulatory state means that government now reaches into the nooks and crannies of the lives of its citizens — and yet government cannot actually do the most basic things required of it. The response of citizens, unsurprisingly, is distrust in government itself.
But that distrust does not manifest, unfortunately, in widespread calls by citizens to restrict the size, scope and intrusion of government. Instead, it manifests as a cry to “elect the right people.” This is a category error. The problem with our government is not one of staffing, but one of incentives — and all the incentives are on the side of inefficiency, blundering and encroachment. That is not likely to stop until the American people recognize that they can have competent government or intensely involved government, but not both. In a representative republic, the problems of government are, in the end, the problems of the people who vote for them.
Ben Shapiro, 38, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” and co-founder of Daily Wire+. He is a three-time New York Times bestselling author; his latest book is “The Authoritarian Moment: How The Left Weaponized America’s Institutions Against Dissent.” To find out more about Ben Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website.
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As someone who spent a few years in the federal government, I wouldn’t use competency or effectiveness in the same sentence as the federal government. You wouldn’t believe the looks I would get, if I brought up either of those attributes as goals the federal government should embrace on a daily basis. The federal government is NOT concerned with the same values that are crucial for the continued survival and long-term growth of any business in the private sector. Everything in the federal government relies on unanimous consensus by people, who in many cases, either don’t understand the issues or use their position as a political tool to exact something else as a condition for them voting in favor of something. To say this produces less than stellar results would be a gross understatement. Thus you end up with badly obsolete or poorly designed systems that no longer meet the needs of of the areas they address today. Decisions that take days or weeks to make in the private sector take years in the federal government. All the while, technology and needs evolve over time, but you are stuck endlessly discussing the original technology speced for the project, that is becoming more obsolete with each passing day. Case in point, what appears to be a NOTAM system, that was no doubt built and installed probably a decade or two if not longer ago, that has long since outlived its usefulness to meet today’s needs. No doubt some low-level federal employee will be blamed for yesterday’s outage rather than the federal government admit the system is no longer up to the task for which it was originally designed.
The private sector of our economy is built around the principles of efficiency, competency and effectiveness. Meeting a customer need at a price and timeliness that is both affordable for the customer and yet allows the company to make a profit and grow over time. If you can’t meet those minimal standards on a daily basis, you quickly find yourself out of business and bankrupt. The federal government on the other hand isn’t constrained by any of that. The federal government makes virtually nothing. They contract out virtually everything via an incredibly archaic and inefficient procurement system that pretty much ensures what is ultimately delivered is on the verge of being obsolete on Day One. There is no accountability, because of the convoluted way everything is done and the absurd amount of time everything takes to get done.
Excellent article.
The Government’s job is to STAY OUT of MY PERSONAL LIFE.
The Government’s job is to SECURE BORDERS, LOWER TAXES, PROTECT OUR U.S. CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, SMALLER GOVERNMENT, NO INSIDER TRADING, STRONG MILITARY, PROSECUTE THOSE THAT RIG ELECTIONS and SELL OUT THE UNITED STATES of AMERICA.
AND DEPORT ALL the ILLEGAL ALIEN TERRORIST INVASION
INCLUDING
ZERO BUSINESS WITH COMMUNIST CHINA and NO DEALS
WITH TERRORIST IRAN.
PROSECUTE TERRORIST antifa and TERRORIST blm Organizations.
The Government’s job is NOT SPYING on AMERICANS or MONITORING OUR BANK ACCOUNTS or CENSORSHIP.
In other words…The Government needs to mind its own business and
STAY OUT OF OURS.
Thank-you for such good articles. To realize the level to which our government, both parties, are willing to go is heartbreaking. As a christian, Gods word tells us that these will take place. So Thank-you for seeking the truth and passing on all you learn.
To direct and control citizen’s every day life and business is not government’s role To tell business how to do business is not government’s business To intrude in every aspect of life and try co control every thought is not government’s purpose, but this whatever it is that we have is hell bent to make life as miserable as can be
Downsize
Purge
Close depts, agencies
CUT overhead
CUT regulations
CUT UN funds
Canada had a similar glitch at the same time but DID NOT cancel their flights! And they are ruled by a full-blown socialist dictator!
BULLSEYE!!! Thank You Mr. Shapiro!!! Is there any hope for some sort of proof of literacy to vote?
Buttgage is a total incompetent idiot. Why he is in his position is far beyond my comprehension…. other than he is a pretty boy.
And this incompetency is rampant thru out the Federal government.
“Pot Hole Pete” couldn’t even deal efficiently with his city’s structural road problems, how in a million years can he be expected to be a competent Secretary of Transportation? Biden and Buttigieg are very good at taking vacations and blaming others. However, their abilities to actually improve the physical conditions of anything more involved than a simple structure are seriously limited. In fact, both Biden and Buttigieg are arguably the worst of the worst.
I was taught that if you want to talk about the problem you must have some ideas as to what to do about them. The author does not tell us what he thinks the American People need to do about the problem. At this point, there are certainly no Republicans that don’t understand that we have a problem, but I don’t see anyone telling us what to do about the problem.
Blundering and intrusive is very close to the definition of the word government. Every government in all world history has been blundering and intrusive with varying degrees of deadliness to it’s citizens. For example 300 Americans are dying every single day because of Fentanyl coming across the border we no longer have. This is no accidental blunder, but is part of a greater plan.
The USA is getting more & more dependent on computers every day. So far , we have seen warnings of what happens during cyberattacks & power failures. Both Democrats & Republicans must come together to prevent this from happening. The 700-Club has warned of Cyber & Grid attacks for +5 years now & ask your Congressman what has been done.
Wake up Americans, the War on Fossil fuels will only add to this type of problem. Just think if the USA was operating 50% of the car/trucks as EVehicles & nobody has power to recharge them.
Buttjudge is the current iteration of Alfred E. Newman, cover boy for Mad magazine.
NOTAM – Notice to Air Missions, FKA Notice to Airmen. Changed because it was sexist.
How stupid. At least 1/3 of the AIRMEN I served with were female. Being called “Airman” was never a problem.
On target – we have a Federal Government which is bloated, costly, inefficient, ineffective and no longer responsive to the needs of it’s constituents.
Do you want DC dictating your health care or should it be between you and your doctor? Do you want Federal bureaucrats deciding how and what your child should learn in school or you and your local school boards?
These are rights for individuals and the states. The people need to regain control of Washington DC!
– Impose fiscal restraints on the federal government
– Limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress
– Limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government
==> Congress will never fix these issues.
Article V empowers the States to put forward Amendments! This starts with us the people!
Become informed and engaged: SIGN THE PETITION and/or volunteer to help the movement. I thank you. America thanks you.
conventionofstates.com/?ref=53458
Our government is just people we have allowed to be put into positions of power over US. We are to blame by allowing Progressive Socialists to dominate government. All Progressives need to be removed from all government positions.
The Worst-President Ever.