Government Inefficiency and Disrespect towards Citizens

Here is the story of a Politico reporter who, taking Obama’s advice, tried to inquire with the USDA about rules and regulations related to noise pollution for farmers in Illinois.

The reporter got passed around via phone and email from bureaucrat to bureaucrat (and agency to agency), none of whom could answer the question, and all of whom thought it was someone else’s job to deal with this reporter. The best part is the email that capped the episode (from a semi-literate representative of the USDA’s media relations team to the reporter):

Secretary Vilsack continues to work closely with members of the Cabinet to help them engage with the agricultural community to ensure that we are separating fact from fiction on regulations because the administration is committed to providing greater certainty for farmers and ranchers. Because the question that was posed did not fall within USDA jurisdiction, it does not provide a fair representation of USDA’s robust efforts to get the right information to our producers throughout the country.

Good idea. From now on I refuse to answer any questions posed to me by the IRS which I do not regard to be fair representations of my efforts to convey to the IRS how much money I believe I owe them.