This topic will be, I predict, most worthy and interesting.
Here is yet another typical interaction - with the state (at PA level in this case) DMV. It was time to renew our car registration. Naturally, the annual fee w Now, I had just renewed our ent from $36 to $50. There was an option to do two years for exactly double the price - no discount.
The renewal form arrived by USPS. The instructions included a website to enable online renewal. New, we had just renewed the (mandated) auto insurance and received the new cards, which one must present to law enforcement if stopped for any reason. The fun began here. Among the required information were the beginning and end coverage dates of the insurance policy - along with the name of the company and it NAIC number (mine is 8 digits with a dash). So, my newly issued insurance card had a begin date of 04/25/2024. I had already made one trip to the garage to get the card and find the present mileage.
So I tried to enter the information by filling in all the fields. However, the NAIC datum box only allowed 5 numbers, not 8. So, I tried leaving off the three digits prior to the dash. It seemed to work on the third try. I then entered the dates on the new insurance ID card. “REJECTED - the ‘begin’ date must be later than today’s date”. So, I went back to the car for the old card, the one officially still in effect until April 25, the renewal date. I entered 04/25/2025 - the date the card indicated the insurance ended. “The term of the policy may only be a maximum of 6 months”.
Well, “technically”, my two sequential 6 month insurance policies are combined into one calendar year, shown accurately on the state-mandated ID card. By paying annually rather the every 6 months, I save over $100 in premiums. Well, the state cannot tolerate such flexibility which inures to the benefit of the citizen. So, in order to satisfy the state, I must lie on the form by reporting an incorrect, 6 month earleir end date of the policy.
So, I finally gave up, put the mail form back in the envelope, and returned it to my “To Do” box marked - After April 25. I wasted - with the aggravation meter beyond the max limit - about 20 minutes of my time (which has been extra busy since the diagnosis of my wife’s cancer). The galling part of this is the fact it is typical of online dealings with the state at all levels. However confusing and ridiculous the hard copy version, it is always worse in the online version; the function is non-linear. Difficulty and attendant frustration of using online government forms seem to increase exponentially. The underlying theme is quite clear: They say “jump!”; you respond “how high”? kind sir. This circumstance is merely one reminder that we serve our “public servants” rather than the other way around. To add insult to injury, their idleness, incompetency and power lust are known by all. Not yet widely known is the fact that their salary and benefits (like immunity from ever being fired or laid off) significantly exceed those of the private sector for comparable positions.
Welcome to the progressive rendition of “Our Democracy™”, the “land of the free” whose hallmark is the “consent of the governed”. I just can’t remember when I consented to pay benefits for millions of illegal border invaders (who don’t like us very much, but will nonetheless VOTE democrat [who will stop them in say, NY, DC or SF?]; and among those entrants are surely thousands of Middle-Easterners who came specifically to do us harm). In some of the cited cases, mere incompetency could be understood. What we are really observing, though, is the slow-ish killing from within of what was once the exceptional “American Experiment”.