On the governmental shutdown, the State Highway Department and the Freeport trail

Standing around!

Earlier this week Winneshiek County officials led a tour of the area where the Freeport bike trail will be built.  The tour was for the benefit of employees of the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Six DOT officials got the tour.  And just when some of us in the group were marveling about the fact that it took six DOT officials to look at the route of the Freeport Trail, we learned that there will probably be over a dozen state and federal officials overseeing the project.

This is just one example of why the operations of government drive a lot of people crazy.  They know that on a normal project, one or two people would inspect a project and supervise it.  That's not the government way, of course.

But, on the other hand, the answer to this problem is NOT to shut down the government.  There are those in politics now who would argue that we'd be better off without government.  But would we be better off without a Freeport trail?

The American public is rightly frustrated with the way things operate in the government.  But the answer to this complaint is to reform government, NOT to eliminate it.