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Bureaucracy
Executive Branch at Work
Bureaucracy
• What is a bureaucracy? – Large, complex organization of appointed, not elected,
officials.
– “bureau” – French for small desks, • referring to the king’s traveling business men who set up small
desks in town squares
• Thus, bureaucracy = “government of small desks”
Who are bureaucrats?
• 1 out of 100 Americans work for government bureaucracy
• Examples• US Postal Service (USPS)
• Amtrak (METRO)
• Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV)
• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
What do bureaucrats do?
• They assist the President.
– Give him advice about their specialties.• Example: AMTRAK
– Advise POTUS to get law passed saying you can’t carry a gun on a bus.
– Help carry out the rules and regulations in their fields.
• Example: Take away your bus pass.
Accountability
• Bureaucracy is controlled by the US government
• Congress– appropriates money to individual bureaucracies
• President– Appoints leaders to head of bureaucracies
• Hopefully the best person gets put in place.
• What if the POTUS wanted to hire his friend?
How did bureaucracies start?
• 1829 POTUS Andrew Jackson’s “Spoils System”– Since you won the election,
you get to pick your friends to be head of bureaucracies!
• “To the victors go the spoils”
• Lasted until 1883– Pendleton Civil Service Act
• Created in response to criticism of spoils system
• Must take test to see who is qualified for jobs.
– Called the merit system. » Police men» Fire men» Teachers
Modern Bureaucracy
• 1932-1945 – FDR’s New Deal
• increased government programs and gov’t work
– Established over 25 million government jobs over 12 years!
• Closest to socialism we ever came.
– Will Obama take us farther?
Why are bureaucracies bad?
Tobacco farmer interest groups (tobacco lobby) Department of Agriculture
House and Senate agricultural subcommittees
Congressional Committee = sympathetic to tobacco, receive campaign funds and support from tobacco interest groups; make weak laws on tobacco.
Dept. Of Agriculture executes laws sympathetic to tobacco
-COMMON INTEREST – Keep tobacco alive = keep their jobs alive
Criticism of Bureaucracy
• “Red tape” inefficiences – maze of rules, regulations, and paperwork that makes bureaucracy
overwhelming to citizens• Bureau of Motor Vehicles• Social Security• Medicare and Medicaid• Financial Aid (FAFSA)
• Unchecked growth – agencies expand unnecessarily at high costs
• Private Health Care Insurance– Price increase of 300% in last 2 decades!
• Lack of accountability – difficult in firing an incompetent bureaucrat– Difficult to close down/change a bad bureaucracy
• Private Health Care to Public Health Care
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