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Size and Power of the Bureaucracy

Consider : Is a “lifetime” bureaucrat a good thing?. Size and Power of the Bureaucracy. Chapter 13: Wilson AP Government and Politics. Homework: Assignment 11. Quotes on Bureaucracy.

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Size and Power of the Bureaucracy

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  1. Consider: Is a “lifetime” bureaucrat a good thing? Size and Power of the Bureaucracy Chapter 13: Wilson AP Government and Politics Homework: Assignment 11

  2. Quotes on Bureaucracy • There’s a new game that's sweeping the country. It's called "Bureaucracy" Everybody stands in a circle. The first person to do anything loses. • “The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is its inefficiency.” • “In any bureaucracy, paper work increases as you spend more and more time reporting on the less and less you are doing” • “Bureaucracy is the art of making the possible impossible”

  3. The “Rules” of Bureaucracy • Preserve thyself. • It is easier to fix the blame than to fix the problem. • A penny saved is an oversight. • Information deteriorates upward. • The first 90% of the task takes 90% of the time; the last 10% takes the other 90%. • Experience is what you get just after you need it. • For any given large, complex, hard-to-understand, expensive problem, there exists at least one short, simple, easy, cheap wrong answer. • Anything that can be changed will be, until time runs out. • To err is human; to shrug is civil service. • There’s never enough time to do it right, but there’s always enough time to do it over. • Murphy’s Law: If anything can go wrong, it will. • O’Toole’s Corollary – Murphy was an optimist.

  4. The Bureaucrats • Some Bureaucratic Myths and Realities • Americans dislike bureaucrats. • Americans are generally satisfied with bureaucrats. • Bureaucracies are growing bigger each year. • Not in the federal bureaucracy. • Most federal bureaucrats work in Washington, D.C. • Only about 12 percent do. • Bureaucracies are ineffective, inefficient, and always mired in red tape. • No more so than private businesses.

  5. Bureaucratic Growth • The Founding • Not created by the Constitution • Begins small, only to perform the basic functions of government, and the post office • Patronage • 1800s (to Civil War) • As nation grows, Bucy grows with it. • Still focused on service, as opposed to regulatory function • Era of Reform – Late 1800s to WWII • Progressive Movement advocates for an end to patronage • PendletonAct creates merit-based system for hiring • Modern Era – Post WWII to present • Growth until about 1960, then fed remains at about 3-4 million direct employees • Focused on regulating areas of the economy and society

  6. Bureaucratic Growth

  7. Working for “the Man”… • Who are the “’crats”? • Directly (bucy; about 4million) and indirectly (private companies and contractors; as many as 8-10 million more) employed or funded by the federal government • Types of jobs: • Competitive (general exam by OPM) vs. excepted (hired by agencies for specific jobs) service • Name – request – specific person hired for specific job • The buddy system…good or bad?

  8. The Postal Service: A Model of Inefficiency?

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