Don't Just Do Something, Stand There

Back in the mid-1990's the Army was embroiled in a nasty sexual harassment case. Apparently, some officers and NCO's, who should have known better, were sexually involved with trainees at Aberdeen Training Grounds in Maryland.

Whether it was consensual or not, wasn't the issue. It was wrong and everyone who was involved knew it was wrong. In fact, the highest ranking officer involved in the case, then-Captain Derrick Robertson, received training on sexual harassment three weeks before he committed his offense.

This being the Army and given the high level press coverage that the case took -- something had to be done.

So the Army initiated a chain teaching program. Generals would teach colonels then colonels would teach their subordinates until Private Snuffy was made aware that sexual harassment was wrong.

I recall sitting in an auditorium listening to the brigade commander go through the entire teaching program -- chapter and verse. After that block of instruction, the only thing I had to show for it was that I was two hours behind schedule. If I didn't know the difference between right and wrong, I had no business being in the Army.

In the end, everyone clapped himself on the back -- after all the Army "did something" and we could all move on.

Unfortunately, by 2007 according to one poll, one-third of Army females who were interviewed, reported that they were on the receiving end of sexual harassment. So much for all that chain teaching.

What the Army did was create a process, in effect, "do something" which a decade later didn't solve the the problem of sexual harassment.

This scandal comes to mind as President-elect Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress begin to develop a trillion dollar "recovery" plan for the economy. Given the bleak economy (but not dire) there is strong sentiment to do something to get things back on track. So the current plan is to spend a ton of money (that we don't have) on a lot of potential make-work programs.

They may no longer call them "earmarks" but when easy money is spread around -- everyone wants a piece of the action. The potential for fraud, waste, and abuse is monumental.

Moreover, there is no guarantee that this will work. The only certainty is that our country will be in even greater debt.

But every elected office holder believes that they have to do something, so the focus is on the process (i.e., how much to spend, where to spend it on) rather than solving the problem at hand. (Here is one potential low-cost solution.)

Perhaps we need to focus more on the problem than with a solution.