Bureaucracy Blog Debate

As we have discussed in class, the popularly held view of the American bureaucracy is that it is a bloated and inefficient system staffed by incompetent employees. Needless to say, it is not a very flattering portrayal of an essential part of our government. However,while most agree there is inefficiency, just what causes this inefficiency and what reforms can be made to fix these bureaucratic pathologies is a topic of much debate. 

The Assignment:

1. View the videos on bureaucratic pathologies and reform posted below and take notes.
• The Daily Show clips “Red Tape Diaries”
• Marco Rubio’s Bureaucratic Reform
• Democracy in America’s The Bureaucracy: A Controversial Necessity (Just the EPA section).
2. Generate arguments for the following  statements on your assignment sheet:
•  “Efficiency is not the only worthy goal and not all publicly run programs are inefficient.”
• Bureaucratic pathologies are inherent because of the “nature of government”.
• Think about Weber's 6 characteristics of an ideal bureaucracy here!!
• The best way to reform American bureaucracy is to privatize it (run it like a business).
3. Debate each statement  by commenting on each of the blog posts below.