Dictionary.com defines bureaucracy as 1) government by many bureaus, administrative, and petty officials and 2) excessive multiplication of, and concentration of power in, administrative bureaus or administrators.
In class and in the textbook, the perks of bureaucracy are that, ideally, they promote competence, consistency, fair treatment, and freedom from political manipulation.Ideally, this occurs because bureaucratic decisions are made based on rules and regulations and the bureaucracy itself is made up of “experienced and expert personnel of the top civil service.”
However, the ideal view of bureaucracy isn’t exactly the reality. The textbook refers to these as “negative connotations associated with the word bureaucracy.”It then lists the following problems: they can be inflexible, insensitive, and inefficient bureaucrats that find few incentives to actually to work hard and more often seek to satisfy personal interests (this, of course, is an overgeneralization….there might be some good bureaucrats out there!). These bureaucracies have only increased in size, though many are obsolete and they are sucking money from a government that really should downsize them.
There is a bureaucracy today that is imposing itself on your life and creeping right into your house and dunking itself in your cereal bowl. This bureaucracy is a part of the dairy industry and is not only completely useless today, but it was formed over seventy years ago (keep in mind pre-sophisticated highway systems and pre-fancy refrigerated trucks) in response to problems during the Great Depression with making sure everyone had an adequate, safe, and fresh supply of milk. The bureaucracy was formed to guarantee this supply to satisfy local demand as well as keep a uniform pricing system within the milk market.
Mind you, that was the 1930’s. Today, with modern technology in farming, refrigeration, and transportation, there is no need for such concern. There’s little to no trouble keeping grocery stores across the country stocked with clean, safe, Grade A milk. Instead of dismantling, they are currently (as in current...like right now) trying to pass a Federal Milk Marketing Order to continue their control over prices of milk by raising handling fees that eventually get passed on to the consumer.
But why the bureaucracy? It is made up of hundreds of paid employees that today, are simply inflating milk prices. It is an excessive waste of money for the government and American families and it is offering no obvious benefit to anyone other than the members of the bureaucracy. Additionally, the passage of this Order could only hurt American families that are already struggling with their budget.
This bureaucracy is one of many that are obsolete and is simply milking the government for money.
Hannah, I loved your cartoon. Bureaucracy sure does make things difficult and the Bureaucratic pathologies that develop cause them to be costly,inefficient, and frustrating. No one likes going to the DMV, dealing withthe Social Security Office, picking up a birth certificate, or wading through IRS regulations. Furthermore, anti-democratic features of bureacracy are disturbing. While many bureaucratic agencies are filled according to merit, and that sounds like a positive aspect, no one elects these people. They are not constrained by public opinion or accountable to the public will. They really take on lives of their own.
ReplyDeleteThey may be a necessary evil, however. Someone has to carry out law. When those positions were appointed by elected figures, corruption abounded. Rule of law has to mean that no one is above the law, so bureaucrats have to be give sets of rules and procedures that apply to everyone.
The best case scenario is a bureaucracy that is bound by a system of checks and balances and is governed by an alert citizenry that can bring courts and legislatures to bear against excessive bureaucratic action.
Although there aren't necessarily "perks" to bureaucracy, I would deem it necessary. While some of the functions it carries out, like the one you cited here, seem frivilous and wasteful, there are definitely parts of the bureaucracy that we need. Also, even though bureaucratic officials are not elected, there is one positive aspect to this: it provides stability. If all of the thousands of people working in the bureaucracy, from cabinet officials to postal workers, were elected, everything would be chaos. Obviously, this is an extreme example, but the argument still stands. Workers' livelihoods shouldn't be dependent on the election cycle and the whims of the public. On the other end of the spectrum, it is also important for the president's cabinet to be able to advise him and work well together, hence why the president selects them rather than the public - talk about divided government! In any event, I believe we're better with the bureaucracy than without it, although cuts may need to be made.
ReplyDeleteI agree in the sense that there may be some necessary scenarios where a bureaucracy is the best choice, but it is definitely not necessary that there needs to be one solely to determine the price of milk. The price should be based off of supply and demand, not some random group that wants to make an extra buck. Milk is a necessity in the refrigerator, and with our economy we really don't need anything else we depend on to get even more expensive.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I love the Antoine Dodson reference. Also, I believe a bureaucracy isn't needed. It just adds added confusion to the clusterf*ck that government is. It is too complicated for the average citizen to follow. That is why people like Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry get attention.
ReplyDeleteOkay, Heath, I'm glad you understood that reference.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Tiia, thank you for getting what I was saying!
My point was there are existing bureacracies that are useless and just sucking up money and should be done away with. I never expressed any distaste for bureaucracy as a whole and I never even addressed this point that's coming up about bureaucracies not being necessary....because I didn't say that. I just merely pointed out some of the flaws and gave a specific example of a single bureacracy that really needs to go.