As IF Times

link Washington sues Florida city over firefighter tests | Reuters.

Broad principles are at stake here.  To qualify for most jobs these days, it’s pretty well expected that there should be some barrier to entry, at least to filter out the most obviously unqualified people from a given position.  If that were not the case, I might decide to go into the brain surgery business because I happen to be good with my hands.  The guys who went to medical school for 10 years may not be so happy about that, but there’s a lot to be said for on the job experience.

Of course, we can’t equate firefighting with brain surgery.  Firefighting is basically a binary job task: if there’s a fire, put it out, if not, play cards or clean the trucks.  However, they still have to at least be able to read street signs and a maybe a road map.  Assuming that someone can pass the physical requirements, there really shouldn’t be too much in the way of obstacles to qualify as a firefighter.  It’s doubtful that a homeowner whose house was ablaze would care a scintilla about someone’s GPA when the firetruck pulls up.  But they do expect some level of competence.  If, as a group, certain people are unable to pass these requirements is it really logical to make the exams easier to pass?  By extrapolation, why have thresholds of competence for anyone?

It’s unclear how these written tests in Florida were administered, but logically, if they were written simultaneously and blacks as a group all failed to qualify, that’s one thing.  If the testers knew the candidates were black before giving out the tests, that’s another.  Presumably, as in school, the tests are scored on the results, not on the pictures.

One of the basic tenets of civilization is that in order to ‘get ahead’ in life, it’s necessary to get a good education in order to qualify for a good job.  As a matter of fact, millions of students submerge themselves in debt in order to realize that dream of a ‘better life’.  If the standards for any given job were waived just because most people couldn’t pass the entry requirements, there is little point in going to school.  People may as well demand to be hired for a position of their liking and get the media on board to support their cause.   While this may significantly reduce the hordes of people naively attending school, it does make the process of selecting a brain surgeon for example, iffier.

Although tenuous these days, there is still a correlation between between effort and results.  Most people have some kind of goal that they aspire to and they realize that in order to achieve those goals requires some kind of sacrifice entailing either mental or physical preparation.  Some will make the sacrifice, most won’t.  It is entirely illogical to expect that in any given employment role that the demographics of that role should mirror the constituency of the population at large.  In a recent ‘news’ story, the Obama administration was embarrassed by the revelation that there were very few minority staffers and advisers in his team.  I’m not sure if that’s true, but it does create a problem of optics for an administration that plays the race card so often, it’s the only card in the deck.

Again, firefighting is not brain surgery.  It’s hard to imagine that any able bodied person wouldn’t qualify to drag a hose around or follow orders.  But if the most nominal of suitability exams can’t be passed by a candidate, perhaps they should be looking elsewhere for a career, something that doesn’t require simple ability to process reason and logic and for which there are no competency tests.   Politics for example.

link Democrats boycott Coke, Walmart over voter ID laws | Washington Examiner.

Maybe they’re right.  Where is the proof that people have nothing better to do than to go out on polling day and fraudulently vote for their favorite guy?  The very idea of it is insulting.  We constantly hear of voter apathy, so anything that can be done to make the process easier should be encouraged.  Heck, you may as well vote a couple of times while you’re there for good measure.  Let’s face it, bureaucracy is strangling society at every turn.  Maybe the entire notion of carrying ID for any aspect of our lives can be dismissed entirely.  The multi billion dollar sink hole which is homeland security can be wiped out overnight.  Gone forever will be border lineups, invasive questions and churlish officers.

Perhaps this same approach can be applied to other aspects of our daily lives.  Immediately we can think of airline travel.  Instead of the layers of bureaucracy that are presently associated with air travel today, including ticketing, airport security, passport applications etc etc, why not just revise the process into a first come, first served format?   It could be like waiting for a bus; no one needs to jump through all the ‘security’ hoops now required of all air travellers; just show up and board with a ham sandwich and a Big Gulp.

This novel notion can be applied to  work and education as well.  When someone applies for a job, is it really necessary to present all kinds of paperwork evidencing vocational and college bona fides?  Who would lie about this kind of thing?  The job application process can be made much easier by emphasizing the personal interview.  In fact, this humanizes the process rather than choosing people because of some abstract scholastic scores.

Think of how easy life would be.  When you attend sporting or entertainment events, you wouldn’t need evidence of having purchased a ticket, you simply stroll in and get the best seat.  When you leave a restaurant, you wouldn’t need to show any kind of ownership chit to the valet parking attendant.  You just tell him you’d like the convertible Mercedes.  At dry cleaners, the retrieval process is sped up immensely.  No longer will it be ‘no ticky, no laundry’, you just ask for some shirts in your desired size and color.

Over time, we’ve become a society hopelessly dependant on labels and tags.  We have come to accept all manner of restrictions and rules on our activities because apparently, it serves the greater good. Anyone who owns a phone or used a computer is plugged into ‘the matrix’.  There’s very little that can’t be known about anyone with only a few clicks of the mouse.  Maybe we should push back at all of the invasive ID tags imposed upon us.

Getting back to the voting process, it’s obvious to everyone that a bit of modern tweaking can improve the entire election process.  Logically, they could contract out people to go and gather votes as if it were a bottle drive.  These canvassers can then dump off their baskets of votes at centralized stations for counting.  What could go wrong?  If we want to be even more 21st century, people could just click to vote for their candidate from the convenience of their smart phone or computer.  What could go wrong?