Go by air. Those are among my mother’s Words to Live By, and the last two weeks have certainly proved them true.

I’ve flown through airports in Washington, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Boston, Atlanta, and San Pedro Sula, Honduras in the last ten days. (I feel like a contestant on a bad episode of The Amazing Race.)

One thing is clear to me: air travel in this country is a broken system. The air traffic control system is an ancient analog system that is close to collapse. Any untoward event–bad weather on the East Coast springs to mind–and the whole system goes down. The Virginia delegation to NCSL, for example, spent 25 hours trying to fly home from Boston. Had we only chartered a bus, we’d have been here in less than half the time.

Flying through so many airports in such a short time gives you a perspective on the whole TSA screening process. We were told the system is supposed to provide a basic uniform level of security. But rules seem to vary not only from airport to airport, but from screener to screener. In Boston, we were told that “TSA Regulations” prohibited putting shoes in those gray plastic bins. No such rule, say the TSA folks in DC.

Customs in Atlanta? Let’s just say that staff there were less efficient, less polite, and less effective than any customs screeners in any of the (many) Third World countries I have visited. The customs section there is dirty and disorganized, a disgraceful way for citizens and visitors to enter our country.

This is basic government service. It is supposed to have been a priority of the Current Administration. And it is not working.