Francis Fukuyama has a post at Persuasion in which he gives his two cents on why the American government can’t “get things done”. Here’s his conclusion:
The private sector has complained for many years of over-regulation by the government. But the government itself faces decades of accumulated regulations that limit its ability to act effectively. There are many powerful interest groups who want to limit regulation of the private sector, but relatively few voices advocating de-regulation of the government itself. Indeed, many on the right and left believe that the government has too much discretionary power and needs to be further constrained.
Restoration of state capacity will thus depend on a culling of the veto points that have been delegated over the years to different stakeholders in and out of government, and delegation of actual authority to the appropriate parts of the government to carry out the people’s wishes. We need new mechanisms to hold that form of delegated power accountable to the people. It has been done before in American history—remember the Apollo program?—and can in theory be done again.
I can summarize my explanation in a single sentence. The federal government bureaucracy is 250 years old.
That is how bureaucracies work; it is what they do. And there is no known way of organizing something as large as the federal government other than bureaucracy. There is no solution to the problem without doing a major disruption of the federal bureaucracy which would be fought tooth and nail by anyone with a stake in things as they are.
Said another way, it’s not going to get better. It will only get worse.
Unfortunately, the Italian example shows that bureaucracies can survive multiple changes in government. I should not be surprised if the is an office in Cairo that was set up by Narmer 5,000 years ago.
To some extent that’s what happened in Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution. Despite the revolution, the tsar’s bureaucracy materially remained in place.
Although it doesn’t excuse his conduct, that was a factor in Stalin’s actions. He didn’t believe that the Revolution served to keep the tsar’s bureaucracy operating. He actually believe in a global worker’s revolution.
The best you can do is starve the beast.
Mamdani in NYC has a bigger budget than the state of FL. And a funding gap. He has been holding pressers preaching that he will be forced (forced! I tell you) to dip into his rainy day fund, raid public pensions. (didn’t Chicago do that?) and – wait for it – raise property taxes.
Recall during the DOGE controversy when suddenly pols and media told us that every government worker was indispensable, a well meaning angel, and perhaps the most efficient workers on the planet?
Free beer politics are a bitch. CA is learning that monied people leave. NY has experienced the same with people and businesses.
I know you disagree, and reject the notion that voters are to blame But they didn’t have to vote for Mamdami for this so predictable nonsense. But they did. CA voters don’t. But they do.
Welcome back, Drew. I hope you are feeling okay I was about to email you.
How do you “starve the beast” without compromising national security? The Reagan Administration tried and failed. It ended up not “starving the beast”.
My view is somewhat more nuanced than “it’s not the voters’ fault”. It reminds me of how one of my college professors characterized multiple choice tests: “Single choice multiple response tests”. What we have are “no choice multiple response” elections.
If you have three alternative candidates, all running on what are materially the same platform, is that actually a choice? I don’t know what the situation is in New York City. Here in Chicago that’s what we’re faced with. The process is rigged to avoid actual democracy.
The book “The Fourth Turning” addresses this issue. Basically, government bureaucracy grows until there is a crisis phase at which time eliminating bureaucracy becomes a matter of survival. The three previous crisis periods for America were the Great Depression/WW2, Civil War, and Revolutionary War. They come about once in a lifetime and we are due.
On a related discussion about bureaucracy in government, I recently talked to a park ranger at the local state park. The state government authorized funds for a permanent restroom in 2018. We finally got one of the approvals from TVA standing in our way, but there were some other changes required so the restroom has not yet been approved. Eight years to get approvals to build a restroom is embarrassing.