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In my last article I shared
from Whittaker Chambers’ autobiography, Witness. Today, I will pick up another observation from
Whittaker that I will apply to most government institutions–federal, state,
county, regional and municipal. Chambers discovered inconsistencies and
discrepancies within the New Deal which puzzled him. He noted that the stated
purposes of the policy initiatives did not necessarily match with the final
results.
Chambers
summarizes the tangled nature of the bureaucracy,
“It’s
coalition of divergent interests, some of them diametrically opposed to the
others, its divided counsels, its makeshift strategy, its permanently shifting
executive personnel whose sole consistency seemed to be that the more it
changed, the more it remained the most incongruously headed hybrid since the
hydra.”
Anyone who has attended a
"public meeting" knows the truth of his summary. There are always opposing views,
some worth hearing, others not. How will the juggernaut be navigated? Who will
guide the discussions? Which compromises will be investigated, which ignored?
The seeming contradictions
and purposeful inefficiencies create tensions that would hamper any
problem-solving exercise but, in a sense, it offers hope. People hope they can
make a difference; they chime in to express their policy preferences. People
board the bandwagon to have their voices heard or to get a seat at the table.
As Chambers mentions, the
organizational dynamic of these bureaucratic shenanigans becomes quite
advantageous for the state. The confusing agenda items and internal conflicts
allow the bureaucracy to shield itself from
any close scrutiny while always drifting toward the collectivist
panacea–socialism.
As a pluralistic society our
culture extols the virtue of many pathways and the value of many interpreters
with myriads of opinions.
However, if the goal of
collective action is known to be compromise, then all parties must willingly
accept compromise before coming to the table. By implication, it also means
there is no truly correct path, no right or wrong, good or bad. All pathways
may or may not get us where we need to go. Consensus decisions get accepted,
however, because we have shifted our value system in favor of compromise over
correct action.
Yet, how many of us
compromise when doing the laundry, changing our motor oil or shaving our
under-arms or faces? Do you find yourself arguing for compromise or doing the
job correctly?
Do you leave a couple of quarts of dirty oil in the crankcase to
avoid being dogmatic about your auto maintenance habits? Do you throw two
scoops of detergent into the wash along with two scoops of dirt? Do you shave
under one arm, but not the other? Why not?
Why don’t we approach science, education, math or healthcare with hearty
doses of compromise?
Although this collectivist
mentality has continually surfaced throughout man’s history, in the US it was
perfected by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Amity Shlaes, author of the New York Times
bestseller, The Forgotten Man, documents that in 1936 Pres. Roosevelt systematically figured out how
to establish the modern political constituency.
This was the wedge in the
door that has been so meticulously exploited in the identity politics movement.
Roosevelt knew that he could promise something to small groups without creating
animosity among others. He could strengthen unions in order to get union member
votes. He could also appeal to artists, senior citizens or railroad workers by
establishing specific offices, programs or bureaucracies to meet the needs of
each constituent group.
In fact, Roosevelt’s federal
spending, during the peacetime period of 1936, outpaced state and local
spending for the first time in US history.
Shlaes notes that the results created, “the Roosevelt landslide of 1936
--but also the modern entitlement trap.”
However, our problem is not
entirely an entitlement trap. Our real problem is that the bureaucratic machine
has been engineered to live an immortal life. Government service industries
live longer than presidential administrations. They live longer than governors,
commissioners, supervisors or regional directors.
The leviathan doesn’t
require any new ideas or agendas. It only needs more resources–men, women,
money and machines. In other words, it needs continual feeding. Like
Frankenstein, its agenda was laid out in statute at creation. It knows its job
and knows what demands are at its doorstep. The leviathan only needs to stay
warm and dry. It accomplishes this by fostering an environment that serves its
survival.
The question comes down to
us and our individual families. Are we willing to continue to fund and demand
government services that don’t live up to their promises? Everyone should be
willing to abandon those failed attempts, curtail the spending and focus our
efforts in other directions. This would immediately slash the ever-consuming
growth of the bureaucratic machine which needlessly absorbs more and more of
our lives and resources.
Popular author and political
journalist, P. J. O’Rourke, forcefully asks a similar question. He wonders,
“What
is this oozing behemoth, this fibrous tumor, this monster of power and expense
hatched from the simple human desire for civic order? How did an allegedly free
people spawn a vast, rampant cuttlefish of dominion with its tentacles in every
orifice of the body politic?”
The progressive-left’s
answer comes directly from the progenitor of Marxism, German philosopher G.W.
Friedrich Hegel,
“The
State is the march of God through the world... The State must be comprehended
as an organism... To the complete State belongs, essentially, consciousness and
thought. The State knows what it wills... The State...exists for its own
sake... The State is the actually existing, realized moral life.”
As the May Primary Election
approaches, remember, the future is in our hands. Make your vote count. Vote against bigger
government, excessive taxation and outlandish regulations.
Fight for the right
things – Vote for Liberty. Remember, if we don't stand for rural Oregon values and common-sense, No one will.
Best Regards,
 Dennis Linthicum
Oregon State Senate 28
Capitol Phone: 503-986-1728
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, S-305, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: sen.DennisLinthicum@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/linthicum
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