Who screens the screeners?

Although I normally use this column space to highlight a controversial event in the news, this week I feel compelled to generally point out just how stupid governmental bureaucracies really are.\nOne of the funniest examples of a typical bureaucrat (admittedly, the lunacy of bureaucracies is oftentimes not funny) is found in airport security screening. These people blindly enforce laws they barely understand. One of the new rules enforced after Sept. 11 is to require everyone going through airport screening to drink any liquids they're transporting. We all probably heard about the woman who was forced to drink her own breast milk. How absurd! The intent of the "liquid" law is to keep toxic substances and acids off of planes. Fine. Someone who had any sense would ask the woman to dribble a little of the milk on her skin. Or pack it up with her luggage. Or feed her child before boarding the plane. Or something else besides drinking her own milk!\nThen there is the idiot in airport screening who made Elliot Gosko, a 14-year-old East Coast high school student, drink his Rocky Mountain spring water samples he was bringing back for study in his biology class. Come next week, Elliot was infected with the common waterborne protozoan giardia. \nOr take the loyal enforcer of the law working at LAX airport. Here we have an employee who saw a weapon and confiscated it immediately before anyone could get hurt. Well, not quite. Actually, the woman working in airport screening that day spotted a passenger who had a foot-tall G.I. Joe figure with a one-inch plastic gun attached and confiscated the "weapon." Whew! Think of the harm that gun could have caused!\nI can't believe someone out there really believes the feds should be handling more airport screening.\nIt's time airports hire people who can think outside of the box. Federal employees tend not to have this trait. Why? They have the most secure jobs in the U.S. They would almost have to kill someone before they could get fired. Government workers are also not concerned with profit. Their bosses hand down fixed rules and the employees just follow instructions. \nBureaucrats don't just sour the effectiveness of airport screening, though. No, they have infiltrated various offices throughout the country, making your life as complicated as they possibly can.\nThis year, the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) passed a law that required those turning 21 to renew their licenses on their birthday. If someone renewed a day early or a day afterward, he or she would have to take a 50-question test. This silly rule has no basis. Either 21-year-olds should take a written test or they shouldn't. The government shouldn't punish people for not waiting an hour at the BMV on their birthdays. \nBureaucrats have proven time and time again that big government is not the answer. There are many examples of expanded governmental power that performs poorly compared with private companies. Look at the failed Amtrak project, the fraudulent IRS, inflated Medicaid prices, etc. Private corporations handle tasks better because they are concerned with profit and are likewise concerned with performance. \nBureaucrats can't bend the rules, though. Their jobs are inflexible. What's the solution? Hmm, maybe we shouldn't have so many bureaucrats! Bright idea, you say? I guess I'm just thinking outside of the box.