Federal government

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

From long TSA lines to air traffic control issues to the chaotic war in Iran, it's all the result of a government that won't take its powers or responsibilities seriously.

Eric Boehm | 3.26.2026 1:45 PM

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(Illustration: Qian Weizhong/VCG/Kyle Mazza, Kyle Mazza/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom/Robwilson39/Dreamstime)

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........

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