The Titanic Sank in 1912. Apparently, the Bureaucracy Is Still Afloat.
Somewhere at the bottom of the Atlantic sits one of history's most famous shipwrecks. More than a century later, a Virginia courtroom is still helping decide what happens to it. Because apparently, even the Titanic couldn't escape American bureaucracy. I have always believed that human civilization possesses a remarkable talent for making simple things unnecessarily complicated. We can transform a straightforward question into a congressional hearing, a minor inconvenience into a national controversy, and an ordinary administrative decision into a bureaucratic adventure requiring three signatures, two attorneys, and a committee that meets every other Thursday. But I have to admit, the Titanic has introduced me to an entirely new level of institutional absurdity. The ship sank in 1912. It rests thousands of feet beneath the North Atlantic Ocean. Its passengers are long gone, its magnificent interiors have deteriorated, and the great vessel that once represented humanity's te...
