Red Tape

You probably don’t remember this line. It was a pretty good line (if I do say so myself) but I just kind of tossed it out there -- either in too much of a hurry or trying to avoid over-explaining things (as I have a tendency to do.)

"One man’s red tape is another man’s oversight."

It’s nice to see someone else has had the same thought.

“In Praise of Red Tape” by Christopher Hayes.

While you’re reading that piece, I want you to plug in another thought. NATCA just had another representative given 30 days off without pay. That’s a minimum of 4 facility representatives (that I know of) given time off or fired. You might not get the message in that but I do. And so do controllers (and other government workers.) You’ve got to ask yourself a question or two (as a citizen): Do you want your employees looking after your interests ? Do you want that safeguard strengthened by union representation ? Or do you want the Bush Administration (or any other Administration) to have free reign with no checks and balances ?

Think about that for just a few moments before we move on.

Got an answer yet ? Good. Now go read this “60 Minutes” story.

These questions don’t have easy answers. Did Darby do the right thing ? I think that’s a pretty easy “Yes” but that is about where the easy part stops. Was Secretary Rumsfeld being genuine in his praise ? Was Rumsfeld just being naive or did he realize the potential consequences when he “outed” Darby ?

How much courage do you have ? Are you willing to stand up to your government for what you believe is right ? Even if it costs you 30 days off ? How about if it means you can never go home again ? If that is a hard question to answer in the abstract -- imagine how hard it is to do for real.

Imagine your government without employees that posses the courage to do what is right.

Don Brown
June 26, 2007