The recent bailout of financial institutions has created a new government bureaucracy and more will probably follow. Newt Gingrich was very concerned about this and attempted to prevent it from happening in such a socialistic fashion. At one time, I was part of bureaucracy (the phone company) which had many of the same faults found in government bureaucracies. What follows is a view of what these faults are. The best solution is not to have a bureaucracy.
1. Once a bureaucracy is formed, it seeks to grow. Its leader's salary and chances of promotion usually depend upon the number of people under him or her and the workload the bureaucracy has. Consequently, the leader does everything possible to create the necessary growth and to compete favorably with other bureaucracies. In this process, there is much spending of other folks' money.
2. Once formed, the bureaucracy breaks into various departments which grow and compete with one another for the same reasons given above.
3. Each leader of each department tends to promote only those who agree with him or her and those who are intellectually inferior and therefore non-threatening in the sense that the person would be able to compete for the leader's job. This is called the "peter principle" and causes the quality of leadership to drop drastically with the passage of time.
4. The competition among the leaders of the departments as well among the leaders of the bureaucracies creates a climate of political intrigue - with the supposed purposes of the departments or bureaucracies taking last places in their priorities.
5. Although not instruments of legislation, most bureaucracies and departments are empowered with the ability to make rules which are the equivalent of legislation. Consequently, the people affected are exposed to laws which have never been voted upon.
6. Bureaucracies, once formed, almost never cease to exist. They are there until the nation of which they are a part is terminated. Therefore, in government, politicians can come and go, but the bureaucrats are there for life and know better how to manipulate to their own advantage than do the elected officials.
7. The bureaucrats with greater power can thwart a nation's goals and make or break that nation.
8. As a consequence of the above, it is even more efficient for anti-American agents to become moles in American bureaucracies than to become elected officials. The more intelligent handlers and teachers of anti-American agents know this and try to place moles in bureaucracies. There are examples of this in Higlights and Comments on KGB Connections.
One example of bureaucracy in action happened at the end of the Vietnam War. Dogs had played various roles in this war and had saved at least 10,000 American lives. Four thousand dogs served and 325 lost their lives in combat. Of those who survived, only 200 came home to the United States. Some bureaucrat in the Pentagon did not have a blank on his forms for dogs, so he listed them under equipment. An order came down to leave most of the equipment in Vietnam. This caused approximately 3,475 dogs (American heroes) to be euthanized.
The dogs were paired with handlers who worked with them, groomed them, and fed them. To the handlers, these dogs were their brothers who went on point with them, went with them on sentry duty, or went with them on tracking duty. The dogs took the worst of enemy fire and often saved the lives of their handlers. The bond between dog and handler was as great as any bond can be. When the Army forced the two to be separated and caused the dogs to be either eaten by the Vietnamese or put to sleep, the handlers lost their faith in the government and were emotionally scarred for life. Many who had been saved by the dogs and their handlers lost faith in the Army - and many felt a hatred for those in command who were responsible.
This is only one example - probably more extreme than most - check the telephone menus next time you try to contact someone in a corporation like Sears for less dramatic examples of bureaucracy in action. In general, bureaucracy eventually leads to waste and corruption, and it is best not to have a bureaucracy when it can be avoided.