Short and Sweet... Washington Has To Quit Screwing With Our Industry

News and Analysis by Jim Campbell, ANN E-I-C

Tell ya what folks, I was going to take a short break from the series I was working for a few days... I was tiring of the depressing task of writing about bad business practices and the folks who were doing so much unnecessary damage to the aviation world -- and then, God Help Us, our esteemed President takes not one, but several, cheap shots at the business aviation community -- again. So much for taking a break...

No matter what side of the political aisle you're on, its hard to look at today's comments as anything else but cheap and foolish politics. To be blunt, if you mess with the tools of business you mess WITH business... and if you mess WITH business, you MESS WITH jobs... and from what I hear, messing with jobs is just not a smart move for anyone with political ambitions.

Washington (and not just the President) has been messing with our business for way too long -- and getting away with it! But, today was a watershed moment in determining whether this Administration was truly coming to understood the contributions this industry makes as well as the criticality of our roles as movers of industry. And in this latest test of political acumen, he failed.

Miserably.

Aviation brings in over $150 Billion to this nation every year. It comprises over 1.2 million jobs. It is a consistently impressive segment of all that we import abroad... and its effects on virtually every other aspect of American and world business are simply too profound and substantial to readily catalog. Messing with that is a bit like teaching yourself do-it-yourself brain surgery... the results are just plane stupid -- and messy.

You'll hear a lot more on this subject, from others, in the next few days and while I'm pleased to see an initially aggressive attitude from a few of the associations that used to roll over and play dead with great regularity, it's simply not enough. If we're getting pushed around and harmed by D.C. Dunderheads who have never run a business, never had to make payroll, and never had to deal with the day to day intricacies of keeping a business afloat (much less an aviation business or a business that uses the services of same), we have only ourselves to blame.

In the upcoming Aviation Transformation Conference (scheduled for the first week of March, 2012) ,one of the things I'm going to personally advocate is a far more aggressive (and radically different) role in countering the misinformation imparted by our elected leaders, as well as the negative press uttered by those who are rarely competent to report on this incredibly dynamic but complex industry. We've long been unhappy with the less than effective responses we've seen from many (but not all) associations in countering the effects of recent Washington madness, but now IS the time for our associations to start warring against the ignorance of those who haven't a clue about the real issues encountered by our industry. They, and we, must refuse to let their incessant 'Bravo-Sierra' stand without aggressive, realistic and effective responses. We need to be loud, consistent, and keep up the pressure on those who would ground us, in one way or another, before their efforts lead to permanent damage (and face it, they're not far from it).

It is high time for the nation's aero-alphabet groups to earn their keep with solid, creative, aggressive, organized and effective counters to every attack we incur... and if they're not up to the job, let's all join an Association(s) that is -- and abandon those that aren't up to the job. 

Washington needs to respect the role we play in this nation, they need to understand that we're tired of their interference and ignorance, and they need to start fearing the power we can muster when the next election cycle comes around.

And then we have to start actually using that power... wisely.

We've played meek and mild for way too long... and its high time that we let them know that we can play the 'heavy' if we need to... though that time sure seems like... NOW. We must DEMAND and PARTICIPATE in strong, creative, aggressive and persistent responses from our associations and support those that demonstrate the ability to deal with the threats we face... or face the end of a unique and treasured American invention --  the aviation and aerospace industry.

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