G.I. Guarantee Watch: Please, Mr. Postman, part 5

by David Safier

Still nothing in the mail from Starlee Rhoades at the Goldwater Institute answering my simple question: What does "many" mean in her sentence:

"We believe the term bureaucrat accurately describes many of the employees in question and is a fair use of the term."

I'm beginning to think I've been stood up.

Actually, that's an interesting choice of terms: "stood up." Watch how this works.

First, I stood up to the Goldwater Institute and pointed out that a bus driver isn't a bureaucrat.

Starlee Rhoades answered with a non-responsive response, hoping I would grouse, grumble and go away.

Instead, I stood up to G.I. again and sent Rhoades a second letter asking her to state clearly how many of the 50% non-teachers in school districts are actually bureaucrats. After all, "many" is a pretty vague term.

And now it looks like I've been stood up by Rhoades and G.I. in general (I sent a copy of the letter to Matthew Ladner, so I guess he's stood me up as well).

Which makes me wonder . . . How many people have stood up to the Goldwater Institute in the past? I mean, here I am, a humble blogger pecking away at my 4 year old MacBook, asking G.I. to admit it made an error or prove it didn't — as it promises to do in its Research Guarantee — and the Institute has apparently decided not to rise to this simple challenge to either prove it's right or show the courage to admit it's wrong.

But I haven't lost heart. Maybe I haven't been stood up. Maybe tomorrow, the letter will be waiting for me when I open my mailbox.

"Please Mr. Postman. C'mon, deliver the letter, the sooner the better."