An Alternative To Government Meddling? Common Sense
"The Rational Optimist" blogs about the TSA and other government-originated stupidities:
But anyway, two seconds thought shows that the whole rigmarole of officiously checking boarding passes and IDs makes no sense. Faking them would be the easiest part of the plot for a would-be hijacker. Nor does x-raying every bag and person make much sense - especially with TSA personnel being (forgive my bluntness) low-paid drones proven unable to spot true problems.I'm reminded of Philip Howard's enlightening 1994 book, The Death of Common Sense. In his latest, The Rule of Nobody, he relates that after some nasty scandals, Australia scrapped hundreds of detailed rules governing nursing homes. Regulatory experts were aghast. Yet, with facilities now enjoined simply to provide a "homelike environment" with "privacy and dignity" - freeing them to think creatively rather than blindly following checklists - they measurably improved.
Howard's point is that we tend to impose complex regulatory schemes because we don't trust their targets - be it governmental arms, or businesses - to behave reasonably and fairly otherwise. It's a big mistake, as evidenced by Australia's experience. And by [the] TSA.
We have too many people whose livelihoods are based on the amount of rules the promulgate and subsequently enforce. These people are called bureaucrats. They need to be stopped before they destroy us all.
Conan the Grammarian at September 1, 2014 1:58 PM
I agree there is too much regulation but this looks like it swings as far the other way.
Take the example with the nursing home. In the US that sounds ripe for lawsuits. Who defines homelike? Is it the government...well then not much is changing. Is it the customer? Everyone is going to have a different idea ... some wildly different... how is a company going to meet all those difference? Is it the company? Well they have a profit motive...of course part of that is not get sued...still it seems like a problem.
I do a analogous problem at work... we are supposed to be creative and come up with faster and/or cheaper ways go getting stuff done...oh but everything has to follow the current prescribed path.
The Former Banker at September 1, 2014 11:16 PM
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