Your editorial in the February 2005 issue shows how far we’ve moved toward having a police state in this country (They don’t know us: Why security agencies fear GA and what we can do about it). If people think it’s reasonable that we need to get permission from the government to do anything, then we are no longer a free country.
As for lobbying for aviation, I think that AOPA is doing an effective job of representing GA’s interests, and that a hypothetical umbrella group that included the airlines would not serve GA’s interests.
And the NRA is a poor model for a GA lobbying group. My gun-loving friends all say that the real reason they oppose regulation of firearms, including assault-type weapons, is to maintain a shadow force of fighters who could carry out armed conflict against the government, if necessary (surely you know people like that).
Questions of treason aside, it’s counterproductive for GA to be represented by any similar group; if we contend that we should have the freedom to fight the government with our planes, we’ll get nowhere.
Rollin Olson
Baltimore, Md.