How has the American bureaucracy grown? 465How Has the American Bureaucracy Grown?
The evolution of America’s federal bureaucracy was not steady or smooth. Most of its
important developments occurred during three short periods: the late 1890s and early
1900s, the 1930s, and the 1960s.^12 In all three, the driving force was a combination
of citizens’ demands for enhanced government services and government officials’
desires to either respond to these demands or increase the size and scope of the federal
government to be more in line with their own policy goals.TRACE THE EXPANSION
OF THE FEDERAL
BUREAUCRACY OVER
TIMEDespite their policy expertise,
bureaucrats still make mistakes. When
the Medicare program implemented
the Prescription Drug Benefit in
2006, information about the coverage
was available on an easy-to-read
website, but the agency soon learned
that many seniors who needed the
information did not own a computer or
even know how to use a Web browser.“Why
Should
I Care?”
Bureaucrats aren’t mindless paper pushers. Rather, they are experts who have
considerable power to shape what government does. The way many elected
officials talk, it’s easy to think that once they pass a piece of legislation or issue an
executive order, government policy automatically changes. In most cases, however,
these directives are only the first step. To bring these changes to life, bureaucrats
must step in to translate often-vague goals into concrete regulations, budgets, and
actions. In other words, while you might not think much about bureaucrats, they can
have a profound effect on your daily life.the problem of control, including making it easier for people outside government to
learn about agency actions before they take effect. However, all these tactics are, at
best, partial solutions to the problem of control. The trade-off between expertise and
control remains.Full_14_APT_64431_ch13_454-487.indd 465 16/11/18 1:43 PM