LETTER: Nothing wrong with a little red tape

In your recent business story about “red tape and bureaucracy” slowing down federal land sales in Clark County, those who want a rush job (including, one wonders, the Review Journal) certainly whine and snivel. If the process were sped up and laws were broken, those same folks would squeal when the land deals got delayed by court proceedings or investigations.

All the steps (the story calls it “red tape” as if it’s a silly waste of time) have to be followed or the paper would be doing “land fraud” and “corruption” stories, wondering why the rules hadn’t been followed.

Make up your mind: Do laws make the process slow or do they make it appropriately deliberate? After all, the Bureau of Land Management isn’t handing out Smokey Bear pencils. Public land is being turned private. This has to be done right.