Why I love Bureaucrats

Copied in its entirety from A Chequer Board of Nights & Days:

When Bureaucrats Attack



When people wonder why it is that there is so much antipathy towards government�s tendency to officiously meddle in the lives of ordinary individuals, I like to point them to stories like this:

He sleeps under a bridge, washes in a public bathroom and was panhandling for booze money 11 months ago, but now Larry Moore is the best-dressed shoeshine man in the city. When he gets up from his cardboard mattress, he puts on a coat and tie. It�s a reminder of how he has turned things around.

In fact, until last week it looked like Moore was going to have saved enough money to rent a room and get off the street for the first time in six years. But then, in a breathtakingly clueless move, an official for the Department of Public Works told Moore that he has to fork over the money he saved for his first month�s rent to purchase a $491 sidewalk vendor permit.

�I had $573 ready to go,� Moore said, who needs $600 for the rent. �This tore that up. But I�ve been homeless for six years. Another six weeks isn�t going to kill me.�

The bureaucrat told Moore that she found out about his business after reading about his success in this paper.

Along Market Street, Moore�s supporters are indignant. Nothing happens when mentally ill men wander the street talking to themselves and drunkards pee in the alleys. Yet Moore creates a little business out of thin air, builds up a client base, and the city takes nearly every penny he�s earned.

Christine Falvey, spokeswoman for Public Works, said the department�s contact with Moore was meant to be �educational.�

�We certainly don�t want to hamper anyone�s ability to make a living,� Falvey said. �Our education efforts are actually meant to support that effort by making our streets an enjoyable place for people to visit.�

To be fair, this entire episode has been most educational. It tells me what kind of compassionate response I can expect when government gets involved in the health care industry.

I can only imagine the circle of Hell where Ms. Falvey will be spending the rest of eternity. I hope she enjoys the attention as she certainly earned it...