Bureaucratic Reform
Kes Speelman
KSpeelman
23 July 2013
Bureaucratic Reform Government bureaucracy is a vital part of the American political process. Bureaucracy helps regulate certain aspects in the government, especially in the executive branch, by creating strict regulations that must be followed. These regulations help keep the agencies more fair to all people. However, many Americans frequently criticize the government bureaucracy because of its slowness and its unfairness to the American people. Because of the all the restrictions created by bureaucracy, bureaucracy tends to be a slow process. “’The problem with the government is that the government can’t say ‘yes’… there is nobody in government that can do that. There are fifteen to twenty people who have to agree. Government has to be slower. It has to safeguard the process…’ The Government can’t say ‘yes’. In other words, the government is constrained” (James Q. Wilson, 278).Most of these restraints are created by bureaucratic red tape which is the collection or sequence of forms and procedures required to gain bureaucratic approval for something, especially when oppressively complex and time-consuming. “Herbert Kaufman has explained red tape as being one of our own making: ‘Every restraint and requirement originates in somebody’s demand for it’” (Wilson, 278). If Americans want to get rid of the red tape that they are always complaining about, then they must sacrifice the ideal of fairness among the government when it enforces policies. Although many American complain about the unfairness of the government bureaucracy, the bureaucracy is set up to help make the government more fairly in the enforcement of policies and laws. “We define claims as rights, impose general rules to insure equal treatment, lament (do nothing about) the resulting inefficiencies, and respond to revelations about unresponsiveness by adopting new rules intended to guarantee that special circumstances will be handled with special to care
KSpeelman
23 July 2013
Bureaucratic Reform Government bureaucracy is a vital part of the American political process. Bureaucracy helps regulate certain aspects in the government, especially in the executive branch, by creating strict regulations that must be followed. These regulations help keep the agencies more fair to all people. However, many Americans frequently criticize the government bureaucracy because of its slowness and its unfairness to the American people. Because of the all the restrictions created by bureaucracy, bureaucracy tends to be a slow process. “’The problem with the government is that the government can’t say ‘yes’… there is nobody in government that can do that. There are fifteen to twenty people who have to agree. Government has to be slower. It has to safeguard the process…’ The Government can’t say ‘yes’. In other words, the government is constrained” (James Q. Wilson, 278).Most of these restraints are created by bureaucratic red tape which is the collection or sequence of forms and procedures required to gain bureaucratic approval for something, especially when oppressively complex and time-consuming. “Herbert Kaufman has explained red tape as being one of our own making: ‘Every restraint and requirement originates in somebody’s demand for it’” (Wilson, 278). If Americans want to get rid of the red tape that they are always complaining about, then they must sacrifice the ideal of fairness among the government when it enforces policies. Although many American complain about the unfairness of the government bureaucracy, the bureaucracy is set up to help make the government more fairly in the enforcement of policies and laws. “We define claims as rights, impose general rules to insure equal treatment, lament (do nothing about) the resulting inefficiencies, and respond to revelations about unresponsiveness by adopting new rules intended to guarantee that special circumstances will be handled with special to care