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You might think the American system of open government depends on providing a free flow of information to citizens and taxpayers, but (redacted)

Sorry, but we had to cloak the end of that sentence in mystery. It might have upset state government officials, including Gov. (Redacted), and they don’t need any distractions right now.

It isn’t easy, slicing $565 million from a budget. Go ahead; try it. See? Once you move past the basics, like unscrewing every other light bulb and cutting out yogurt, it gets complicated.

It’s especially hard when you’re dealing with unions. For example, as Iowa faced up to its budget crisis with a quivering chin in October, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) took a firm stand on “bumping.”

Bumping refers to the contractual right of a veteran employee to shove a younger colleague overboard when jobs are being cut. As a veteran worker, I kind of like this concept. But as a non-union member, I think: “Gee, maybe it should be based on quality and productivity instead of strictly on ‘number of hours killed.'”

I hate to see my generation tossed out on the street just as we were finally scraping up enough cash to buy the remastered versions of our Beatles albums.

However, it is my tax money, and I’d like to spend it on the best workers we can coax onto the Statehouse grounds.

AFSCME, strong union that it is, said there would be no exceptions. Rules are rules, just like budgets are budgets. Well, budgets aren’t necessarily budgets, but rules are rules.

I once attended a meeting about forming a local chapter of a nationwide union. I remember one of my colleagues asking the organizer about the contention that the main advantage of a union is to protect the slackers. I suspect the answer was something like “oh, not at all,” but for some reason, it’s the question that stuck with me.

Later in October, we learned that “dark time,” the practice of leaving vacant jobs unfilled, wasn’t accomplishing exactly what we had hoped in our state government. We thought the idea was to save money by not paying employees. As it turned out, we kept doling out the cash; it’s just that there was no one there to receive it.

This is like buying tickets for seats at Wells Fargo Arena and finding out the game is being played at Hilton Coliseum.

I heard some area government leaders discuss the matter briefly, and they didn’t seem to see a problem. That money was needed to pay overtime to other workers to get the same job done, which sounded reasonable to them.

Um, maybe we should have been less ambiguous about what we had in mind. When we said we wanted to “cut spending,” what we meant was “spend less.” But at least we managed to create a little more camaraderie on the unemployment line.

Last week, we reached the point where our state officials released a plan of action. Unfortunately, the powerful Magic Marker lobby intervened, blacking out large chunks of detail and turning a valuable piece of information into a crossword puzzle template.

Also, we were told, the layoffs were to be “processed” but not “implemented.” We’re not ready to spring the trapdoor just yet, but we’re going to go ahead and install a new rope.

No easy answers are available, but this seems like as good a time as any to pick up our state budget and wring out some of the odd thinking and bad team spirit.

We’re always bragging about how honest and courteous and cooperative Iowans are. They’re more than willing to return your wallet or help you fill sandbags. When the stakes are a little higher, let’s see who’s willing to sacrifice what for the good of the whole.

Eventually the government will figure out an acceptable way to get us back on the financial rails.

But so far, the whole process seems like (redacted).