America’s Deeply Unserious Federal Government Is Becoming a Real Problem

The investigation into a deadly collision on the runway at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport was delayed this week because of a different set of airport-related issues that all trace back to our completely unserious federal government.

Here’s what happened: An air traffic control specialist trying to get to New York as part of the investigation ended up trapped in an hours-long security line in Houston, according to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Jennifer Homendy. She said federal officials called the Houston airport to “beg” for help in getting their investigator through the line quickly.

On its own, an NTSB investigator being stuck in a long airport security line would not signify a government in crisis. Accidents happen unexpectedly and inconveniently, almost as a rule. Investigators are not always in the right place at the right time. Bureaucracy and security theater cause headaches even during normal times.

But the long lines in Houston (and elsewhere) and the tragic accident on the runway at LaGuardia are not only singular events. They are points in a constellation—perhaps not even the brightest ones right now—of government dysfunction that is becoming more difficult to ignore, more disruptive, and more dangerous. 

To trace this star chart of unseriousness, start with the collision in New York. There are no definitive conclusions yet, but The New York Times reports that investigators are probing “an overlapping series of failures that stemmed from problems with staffing and technology.”

If that sounds familiar, it’s because those same issues were thrust into the spotlight after last year’s collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter over the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. And it returns to the headlines every time there is a government shutdown that causes disruptions—which, in turn, contributes to the ongoing staffing shortages in America’s air traffic control system. In small ways, each of those problems contributes to the likelihood of a mistake that puts lives at risk.

It doesn’t have to be this way—and a country with a more serious government would have fixed it long ago.

America’s entire air-traffic control system relies on technology that is woefully out of date (which probably makes it more difficult to recruit workers) compared to systems used in other countries. It remains that way because it is funded and managed by the federal government, rather than by the people who must rely on it to work: airlines, airports, and private pilots.

Those entities would have an incentive to make sure the air traffic control system is top-notch and fully staffed. As Reason Foundation cofounder Bob Poole noted in November, roughly 100 countries receive their air traffic control services from user-funded utilities. “If any of their governments were to have a shutdown like ours, air traffic control would continue to operate normally,” Poole wrote.

The federal government could fix this problem with air traffic control anytime it wants. This is not a partisan issue. It does, however, require some semblance of seriousness from our policymakers—so it is unlikely to happen, and another accident is inevitable.

Congress could also fix the long lines at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints whenever it likes. It could abolish the TSA to allow airports and airlines to run security. This is not some radical idea: Many airports around the rest of the world already use private security. Alternatively, Congress could expand the number of airports where TSA services are contracted out to private companies so those services would be less likely to be disrupted by a government shutdown.

Indeed, the current shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is yet another point in this constellation of deeply unserious federal policy. 

Why is DHS shut down? Because Democrats (with some Republican allies) are demanding changes to how the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is being carried out. They want federal immigration agents to adhere to basic expectations for all law enforcement, like not wearing masks and not detaining (or murdering) Americans without due process.

That we are even having that debate is more compelling evidence of how completely unserious the federal government is right now—and how dangerous that unseriousness can be when it is armed, masked, and shielded from accountability. 

And so there it is: a government shutdown caused by unserious immigration enforcement creates TSA backups that could have been easily avoided if not for two decades of unserious federal airport security policy, delaying the investigation of a tragedy that also may have been avoided if America’s elected officials cared about making sound policy.

Obviously, many of these problems predate the Trump administration and the current Congress. But only a hardened partisan would refuse to acknowledge that the situation has worsened in the past year.

America is now knee-deep in a major war that lacks any clear objective—except, that is, for the reopening of a crucial maritime route that was open until the war started. We could have done literally nothing and accomplished that goal weeks ago. Unserious.

Or is it a war? On Wednesday, President Donald Trump laughed about how he can’t technically call it a war, because then he would have to get permission from Congress. Nevertheless, Trump and his top officials continue to refer to it as a war most of the time. Unserious.

There are myriad other examples to choose from. My favorite? Last year, Trump put tariffs on imports from Switzerland because he was mad at something one of the country’s top officials said on a phone call. Then, he lifted those taxes when Swiss diplomats gifted him an expensive watch and a literal bar of gold. Deeply unserious and corrupt.

This isn’t a partisan thing. Yes, the Biden administration was also deeply unserious at times—like when it tried to invent a new presidential power to forgive student loans. No, that doesn’t excuse or justify anything that is happening now.

I’m also not sure if there is anything to be accomplished by pointing this out. As a libertarian, I long ago gave up on the notion that government would be competent or effective at most of the things it does. As a writer, however, I feel there must be some value in describing these events even when it feels like stating the obvious—there is a reason we teach children about the story of the emperor having no clothes.

Regardless, it seems more obvious than ever that the federal government cannot and should not be trusted with important tasks. Libertarians have often warned against giving the government more power by asking partisans on both sides to imagine their worst enemies having those same powers.

That now feels somewhat insufficient. Today, you must also imagine a collection of unserious morons having those powers—or, maybe worse, those responsibilities.

You don’t have to agree that privatizing or decentralizing government operations is a good idea for philosophical or fiscal reasons. But anyone looking at the current state of affairs should be able to agree that the government simply cannot be trusted to run the TSA or the air traffic control system any longer. The stakes are too high.

Meanwhile, where is Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R–La.)? On Wednesday night, he announced the winner of “the first ever America First award,” a new honor dreamed up by the National Republican Campaign Committee. The prize: a literal golden statue. The winner? C’mon, you already know the answer.

Johnson is one of the most powerful people in the government. His position makes him instrumental to solving the problems discussed here and many others—I haven’t even mentioned the budget deficit or the record-high national debt.

We are at war. Americans are unhappy. And this is how Trump and Johnson are spending their time.

Deeply unserious. Embarrassing. Pathetic.