Research Paper on Bring Back the Bureaucrats: Exploring Reasons Behind Incompetent Federal Government Programs

Introduction

There are reasons for the book entitled Bring Back the Bureaucrats authored by the political scientist John Dilulio. The book highlights how the federal government has and is still being run by proxies that then results in the incompetent undertaking of the government programs alongside massive debt borrowing to finance the ever-rising federal budget (DiIulio, 2014). Thus, there is poor delivery of federal government programs by the proxies and generation of a lie on the monstrous nature of the federal government yet it has few employees and largely run by proxies in state and local government employees. There is also the presence of cases in which the funds from the federal government are mismanaged, as frequently seen in news headlines.

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Therefore, John Dilulio, through his book Bring Back the Bureaucrats, wants more bureaucrats to be brought to the federal government to ensure correct usage of the funds that have been set aside for various programs. Also, he wants the bureaucrats back because they have the competencies, skills, and knowledge required to deliver the government programs in place with full correctness, unlike when the proxies including state and local employees, are used (DiIulio, 2014). Finally John Dilulio wants the government bureaucrats in place to act as the correct representation of the leviathan nature of the federal government: which at present seems large enough yet for-profit organizations, nonprofit organizations, state and local government employees are used to deliver its programs and not the actual federal government employees who represent the actual size of federal government. Thus, he believes that the employment of bureaucrats into the government taskforce will aid in the erasure of the lie in which the federal government is leviathan by proxy, followed by the manifestation of is correct size using the number of bureaucrats in place.

Therefore, from the above reasons for writing the book, there is a problem that John Dilulio is trying to solve with the proposal of bringing back the bureaucrats into the federal government. It involves doing away with poor governance within the federal government (DiIulio, 2014). The problem, John Dilulio believes, can be approached using managerial president and the bureaucrats in different ways once installed. One of them is that bureaucrats will ensure effective usage of the funds allocated to different programs. It happens that various proxies, including city mayors, are constantly lobbying for funds from the federal government, some of which end up unaccounted for. Bureaucrats are considered the only federal civil servants with the expertise to manage the fund allocations proficiently. It will raise accountability alongside reducing the federal spending that has kept ballooning since the year 1960: in comparison with the constant number of federal civil workers. In the end, there shall be the reduction of funds lost via corrupt deals by the proxies used and, finally a reduced federal budget.

Besides, the bureaucrats will ensure that the programs that are set in place within the government are delivered effectively for the benefit of taxpayers whose taxes alongside borrowed money are used in the projects (DiIulio, 2014). It will keep at bay the existing poor delivery of the increased number of programs undertaken by the federal government using proxies. Also, the number of programs will be cut to ensure qualitative delivery in a given time frame, hence also achieving the aim of efficiency in the federal government with slowed growth.

Finally, with the inception of more bureaucrats into the federal government, there shall be true representation of the size of federal government. It is because the proxies will be shed off from delivering federal government programs.

Responses by Charles Murray and E.J. Dionne

It can be established that there are two replies to John Dilulio's proposal at the end of the book ''Bring Back the Bureaucrats.'' One of the responses is the reply by the liberal E.J. Dionne on John Dilulio's proposal. His response starts from page 115 in the book Bring Back the Bureaucrats, and is entitled ''The Government we need for the Things We Want (DiIulio, 2014).'' He scoffs at the possibility and practicality of the proposal of Dilulio to have the bureaucrats to run and government affairs and still ensure efficiency, accountability of the government. More so, he refutes the idea of having a managerial president as helping in improving governance, alongside the possibility of having a presidential candidate urn on better and leaner government. There are also some seemingly impractical ideas, including the substantial expansion of federal bureaucracy when it has the lowest trust in history.

Finally, there is a response by Charles Murray starting from page 123 of the book Bring Back the Bureaucrats, and is entitled ''No Cure for t1he Sclerotic State (DiIulio, 2014).'' In his response, libertarian Murray blatantly points out that a purely federal state will continue to be greatly inefficient and incompetent, like the existing vast federal - contracting state. His response augurs against the proposal of John Dilulio on the need to hire bureaucrats to run the activities of the federal government instead of using the proxies that include state and local government employees, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit organizations. Murray is to the opinion that there are no great differences between the way the bureaucrats will administer their activities and how current proxies are delivering the affairs accorded to them from the federal government. The only difference between the current use of proxies by the federal government and the proposed use of bureaucrats is that for the earlier, the government is the only leviathan by proxy. For the later, the government will be leviathan by the use of its civil servants. Their modes of operations are similar because they are working for the same government.

Thoughts on John Dilulio's Proposal

It can be established that John Dilulio is proposing on bringing back the bureaucrats into the federal government, with the hopes of reinstating the actual and real nature of federal government, restoring effectiveness and competency of government agencies, alongside promoting transparency and accountability in the management of federal budget funds. Evident in his proposal is both the diagnosis of the inefficiency operating in the government and the remedy for offsetting such inefficiency. He diagnoses that the inefficiency of the federal government root from the use of proxies in the delivery of its programs. The proxies used include nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, and state and local government employees.

Regarding such a diagnosis, it can be established that the failures in various elements of the federal government originate from the fact that proxies are used in the delivery of government programs and not by use of its employed technocrats in government. The proxies undertake the activities that contribute to the failures recorded by the federal government, and which could be avoided by the action of the federal government in many ways it could take in the run to elevate its performances. They use the funds meant for various projects lavishly: the ones consistently lobbied from the federal government, and which they cannot effectively account for.

Also, they poorly run the government agencies hence leading to their observed inefficiencies and incompetence in the delivery of the required services to the citizens. The use of nonprofit sectors as agents of delivery of government programs also affects their performance, since they should be independent of the government influences. Hence, it can be concluded that the diagnosis regarding the need to use different means by the federal government to deliver its services is correctly suggested.

However, the proposal that the above diagnosis should be solved by bringing the bureaucrats into the federal government appears ineffective. John Dilulio suggests that bureaucrats, once brought in the federal government, will ensure that the government is efficient: pointing to proficient use of funds, effective management of government agencies, and true representation of the size of government by bureaucrats. The above possibility of restoring optimal efficiency within the government using bureaucrats, thus, appears an improper remedy. Once there are bureaucrats in place, the government will become large, yet managing large organizations can be challenging. There shall result in long chains on management in the form of hierarchy, from the top to bottom levels, which pose a challenge of ensuring that all the factors are well put in place for effective governance, also due to the effect of bureaucracy posing management problems.

Further, the use of bureaucrats to run government agencies does not appear to solve their efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of their respective services. It is also affected by long bureaucratic rigidities that hinder proficient service delivery and tracking of accountability in the use of funds allocated to them. The budget will, therefore, likely not reduce following the use of bureaucrats to manage it. Finally, the fact that bureaucrats will show the real size of government, and avoid the existence of government by proxies cannot add anything to the service delivery. It is because size is the center of focus and not its qualitative degree to help in the proficiency of government towards its citizens.

References

DiIulio, J. J. (2014). Bring back the Bureaucrats: Why More Federal Workers Will Lead to Better (and Smaller!) Government.