Hats off to the ATCs who continue to work while the politicians engage in their petty and pathetic game.
Is there anyone in this situation who potentially has more leverage than these ATCs? I imagine that if all of the ATCs simply said we're not coming in tomorrow, congress would get it together pretty quickly.
In the absence of legislation (and perhaps even if/when legislation is enacted), an effective approach would be to simply hold entities to a reasonableness standard and to seek relief/damages under a common law negligence theory in lieu of a regulatory/legislative enforcement mechanism. That way, what is considered to be the industry standard (ie reasonable) changes at the pace of technology. The weak link here is quantifying individuals' damages in breaches where there is no clear injury (such as what you have in the the Amazon/GoPro example described above).
I'm 36 and in a similar boat. Without going into my story, I'll tell you that one thing that has been helpful for me is "giving back."
For instance, like you, I used to enjoy music festivals (still do, but differently now). Remember how cool your first festival was? How can you contribute to the experience that the first-time 20-something festival goers have now? Build a cool piece of LED art? Volunteer? Start on a project. Get involved.
The above is just one example of the many ways I've found to give back in various areas of my life. It is fun, rewarding, and opens doors to new opportunities and people.
I use it daily at my law firm. It monitors online court dockets for many of my lawsuits and sends me an email when there is a new entry/order/filing. Incredibly useful.
Is there anyone in this situation who potentially has more leverage than these ATCs? I imagine that if all of the ATCs simply said we're not coming in tomorrow, congress would get it together pretty quickly.