The comment in your latest issue from the bureaucrat,
saying 50,000 petition signatures have no effect on policy-making,
sounds exactly like the last public expressions of Marie Antoinette
before they cut her head off (HCN, 6/27/05: Writing a comment
letter? Better make it good). When the French peasants were
starving for bread in the late 18th century, the queen supposedly
said, “Let them eat cake.” The people cut her head off so she
wouldn’t say any more things like that.
The federal
employee you quoted sounds similarly dismissive and ignorant of the
actuality. I believe his kind is in similar trouble, whether they
know it or not. I wouldn’t actually cut off the heads of
bureaucrats, of course, nor have it done, but they are blithely
putting themselves in some very striking historical company.
ike Zempter
Athens, Ohio
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Let them eat comment letters.
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