I'm pretty sure low intelligence is one of the things they hire for at agencies like the US DOL.
The arrogance is taught.
I've been dealing with a lot of agency bureaucrats this week.
I'm trying to remember the last reasonably intelligent and fair government agent I met in ag in CA, WA, or OR. The closest I can think of is a California Civil Rights Department agent I'm dealing with. And it isn't good.
The case involves a guy who worked on a small farm. Mexican. Big dude, 6'4", maybe 320 lbs. When the farmer met this guy, he was introduced by a nickname that was related to his size. Everyone used it. Dude's co-workers, friends, etc. A couple of people told me that they didn't know the guy's real name for years.
Worked there 15 years. Brother works there. All of a sudden, he loses a bunch of weight fast and quits. Then filed a complaint that the nickname is racist, and the farmer exposed him to a hostile work environment.
Given the region, this complaint went to an office in San Francisco. It was likely reviewed by a young, fresh out of school fully indoctrinated antiracist ready to stamp out the scourge and drag those backwards farmers into modernity. This person was highly alarmed by this terrible situation, and kicked it up the chain on priority status.
I looked into it and filed a response. The investigator contacted me, very stressed out that her superiors had classified this case on a little farm with 5 employees as a "Category 3" case, which is apparently their red flag, top level priority case. She has already talked to two people in town (I gave her them as witnesses) who confirmed what we told her about the name. But she's scurrying to get it down to "Category 1."
Forgetting about the presumption of guilt applied by CA in these cases, at this point she has talked to two people who do not even work there who tell her he had the nickname for as long as they have known him, for years before he ever met this farmer.
How about Category fucking Zero? Nope. She wants to contact all the other workers to see what they say. She's talked to the guy. She's talked to the farmer. She's talked to the foreman. She's talked to two independent witnesses. She tells me everyone said the same thing, and even told her that his wife used the damn name. But Sherlock fucking Holmes has to keep digging. "I will find the racism, Master, it must be here somewhere." It's ridiculous but routine. And it is the kind of thing that is crushing the life out of small farmers.
Keep in mind that when she is done, we have no idea what Category 1 will mean. Will they walk away because there is nothing there or will they make the farmer pay tribute to the Civil Rights church? The fact that I'm worried about it tells you what a horror show this system is.
I had another case like this years ago with the EEOC. It was a Portuguese guy who owned a small landscaping company with a solid crew of Mexican dudes who made good money on office complexes and the like. They were blue collar guys who drank beer together after work and busted each other's balls and made racial jokes at each other. The boss was one of the guys and it was all good. A new guy came in and complained it was a racially hostile work environment. Every worker defended the company, some passionately so. The complainant was a registered sex offender who had molested a 14 year old girl who he had given alcohol to. It cost the business a $10k settlement.
This investigator is actually unusually nice and fair, usually they are pretty nasty. But she's a stupid person working in a stupid system doing a job that should not exist.
Every one of these government agencies works exactly the same way. They hire stupid people who are not fit for productive employment, overpay them, give them generous pensions so (unlike you) they don't have to save money and make them unfireable. If you are a taxpayer, keep in mind that you are funding the dumbest possible system of government operated by the dumbest possible people.
The idea of laying off 75% of the federal workforce is a fantastic one. You have no idea how many useless people are working in useless jobs that you pay for. It's just make work welfare.
Meanwhile, this farmer with his little farm is just trying to make it in a really difficult ag economy. I've seen so many people who I've known for a long time exit the farming industry and give up their family land and legacy. I'm old enough now and have been involved in ag long enough to have seen a lot of good people hurt very badly by these terrible systems and the terrible people who take the bribe to serve the machine. This is the shit that wears people down and drives people out. This is what their kids watch their parents go through and why those kids don't want to become farmers.
There is no one I hate more than these fucking bureaucrats. They're despicable cowards who cause nothing but harm.
Elon Musk is talking about breaking this system and gutting it. If Trump is elected, raise the possibility of some momentum in that direction, at least opening the conversation about how insane it is to run a country this way.
On the other hand, the more power Democrats get, the more this behemoth will grow, the more people will be crushed by it, and the more family farmland will end up in the hands of the investor class. Open your fucking eyes.
Sorry for the rant, but in the last 10 days I've dealt with 3 federal agencies in 2 states and 4 state agencies in 3 states and I'm grumpy about it.
Good rant :D