Government Shutdown Of The Federal Bureaucracy In The United States

A bureaucracy is a way of administratively organizing large numbers of people who need to work

There is a plethora of criticisms about the effectiveness of the Bureaucracy. Even during the 19th century, as Wilson writes, the Post Office “was an organization marred by inefficiency and corruption”. With an appointment standard such as the “spoils system”, where individuals or groups are granted high level positions based on political favors alone, corruption is almost a certainty. The political aspect of the Bureaucracy was prevalent in the military for over 100 years, as Wilson states “the size and deployment of the military establishment in this country was governed entirely by decisions made by political leaders on political grounds”. Political favors and factors plague our government, including the Bureaucracy. A by-product of these political favors and corruptions are stagnancy and mediocrity. An example of this, as

I was surprised the something like “a government shutdown” existed and I was surprised that the government was still arguing about what their budget is going to be. Also in the article, it mentions that it was embarrassing for the president but it doesn’t seem like Trump is doing anything about the government shutdown. Also, I didn’t know that the two parties would fight about something that is important to the government like this and blaming it on each other.

In his book, Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies do and why they do it, James Q. Wilson’s main objective is to better define the behavior of governmental bureaucracy, believing traditional organizational and economic theory does not adequately explain their actions. Wilson believes that government agencies are doomed to be perceived as inefficient entities by the public. He gives examples of commonly held perceptions of bureaucracies and reveals how these are mostly misconceptions. He points to the environment of bureaucracy, where rules and procedures, dictate goals, along with context, constraints, values, and norms.

The federal bureaucracy is the group of government organizations that implement policy. The federal bureaucrats belong, for the most part, to the group of government agencies led by the president’s cabinet (the collection of appointed officials tasked with leading various federal government departments such as the State Department, Department of Homeland Security etc.) (Geer et al.). These department heads, known as cabinet secretaries, are appointed by each new president. The federal bureaucracy is responsible for writing regulations that implement the laws. In this, the federal bureaucracy’s importance cannot be understated. Congress passes laws, the president signs them, but it is the responsibility of the bureaucracy to actually implement them in the most effective, unburdening way.

What I read about reducing the cost of the national bureaucracy was Under the Hood: The Cost of Bureaucracy by Allison Gofman. The major points of her article are that there are many different agencies, departments, and groups of people who deal with the same things throughout the government. With having many different groups of people dealing with the same issues, there isn't one federal bureaucracy. Instead, its a bunch of different groups with their own interests and own opinions on one topic. The article also states that "public bureaucracies are not designed for efficiency" and I can see why. The bureaucracies just want to have power and influence over decisions that their agency gets to make at later dates.

This allows for the bureaucracy to make laws through rule-making, which is delegation of authority. The bureaucracy delegates authority to the department or agency that will be responsible for its implementation. The bureaucracy in the United States is partly made up civil service agencies, that regardless of who has been elected to an office, the bureaucracy continues, despite the decisions made in the political process. Because of the framework of bureaucracy, it has been considered politically neutral.

According to NBC News’ article, “Sorry, we’re closed: Government shutdown ripples across the country,” published on October 1, 2013, written by Matthew DeLuca, it describes how many of the general population were affected when Congress members failed to reach a consensus regarding the government’s finances and budgets. The Senate rejected laws proposed by the Republican portion of the House, which led to delays in the cancellation of the Affordable Care Act. This shutdown lasted sixteen days, which angered many people. People were upset over the fact while they were going to work, the government workers were not showing up for work. During the shutdown, many Senators’ offices were closed, meaning they weren’t able to respond to requests from

In a government shutdown, only “non-essential” functions of the federal government close down, while all “essential” functions of the government remain operating. Generally, all government functions that ensure safety and protect property remain open and in operation

Bureaucrat is a dirty word to some people in modern society, so how can a bureaucracy be a good thing? Many Public Administration theorist, argue that bureaucracy is essential to the growth and expansion of the United States. Most of the criticism of the bureaucracy within the government is based on myth versus reality. Federal agencies play a critical and a valuable role within society and are indispensable to the operations of the federal government. Bureaucracy can be simply defined as the system in which decision are made by Public Administrators rather than elected officials (legislator) within the government. However, when the average citizen of just says the single word bureaucracy thoughts and images of evoked over how negative

There are about 7.4 million businesses in America today (United States Census Bureau, 2016). These businesses all have to find a way to function on a day to day basis. Creating a bureaucracy within the organization or business is a way that many of them find a way to thrive. At Grand Canyon University, the Biology Department is a good example of what a bureaucracy looks like and how it functions. The Biology Department at Grand Canyon University demonstrates a bureaucracy by fitting the five main characteristics.

The word “bureaucracy” has a negative connotation to many people. The fact is that our current system of government would not be able to survive without bureaucracies. The bureaucracy has become the “fourth branch” of the government, it has quasi-legislative and judicial powers and in it’s own field its authority is rarely challenged. The presence of these large, inefficient structures is necessary if the American people want to continue receiving the benefits that they expect.

The federal bureaucracy consists of the Cabinet departments, independent agencies, government corporations, and independent regulatory commissions.

With the creation of new states and the intervention of government in everyday life of citizens necessitated the need for ideal-type of bureaucracy. Everywhere whether in developed or developing nations, bureaucratic structure is a common phenomenon.

The word Bureau means office and Kracy means usage. So, bureaucracy refers to a form of social organization which is managed by strict rules and regulation and which has a goal of achieving technical superiority over any social organization. But