Spoils System was Better

In the early days of the nation, all positions in the federal government were up for grabs after the election.  One of the most onerous jobs of a new president was to deal with those who had supported his campaign now looking for a job in the new government.  Most presidents picked a member of the cabinet to do this, but that didn't prevent job seekers from pestering the president himself.  Every job in the bureaucracy was available.  Of course, those selected for the position were often unsuited.  It was little more than a way to pay supporters who then did a mediocre or worse job in the position.  Thus was born Civil Service Reform.  Rather than hiring a new patent clerk, why not just keep the one that is there?  It is a non-political position and should be filled by someone with the skills required, rather than some random campaign supporter.  Yes, that was a perfectly sensible idea.

However, now a new problem arises.  A system was now in place where an administration could establish a new bureaucracy and then populate it with supporters.  The next administration would no longer be able to just sweep them away.  Is it any wonder that the federal government now employs more than 23 million people?  That is more than the population of Florida, our 3rd most populous state, who are working for the government.  This is what civil service reform got us.  Worse, these people are not non-partisan professionals.  Washington DC and the surrounding counties vote 90% Democrat, showing that the bureaucracy class - the Deep State - is clearly on one side.  When a Democrat is in office, the multitude of alphabet agencies implement the new policies with vigor.  When a Republican is in office, the gears of government grind to a halt as those same agencies slow walk the new policies.

Though the idea of non-partisan professionals was great in theory, it has utterly failed in practice.  It is time to return to the spoils system.  The Augean Stable needs to be cleaned.  Vivek Ramaswamy has floated the idea of disolving the FBI and placing the various useful special agents in related agencies (US Marshals, Secret Service, Treasury, etc.) and eliminating the administrative bloat that is more than half the FBI.  He also wants to close the Department of Education, which has improved our nation's educational standing not at all since its inception.

We are supposed to have a limited government.  Let's do some limiting!

The Bureaucracy Dissents

The title of this Politico article is practically treasonous:

Federal workers turn to encryption to thwart Trump

The article details how career bureaucrats at the various agencies in DC are coordinating among themselves with encrypted messaging to dodge laws regarding workplace communication.  In other words, they are pioneering a version of Hillary's offsite email server.  Why use secret communications within the bureaucracy?

The goal is to get their message across while not violating any rules covering workplace communications, which can be monitored by the government and could potentially get them fired.

 

The story puts the best possible spin on why these bureaucrats are engaging in this secretive communication.  They have to be able to oppose Trump if he tries to undermine the mission of the agency, tries to destroy important scientific data, or flout the law.  In fact, we know that most of the bureaucrats are Democrats (DC went 91% for Hillary) who don't want to implement Republican policy.  When the country votes for Democrat policy, the bureaucracy moves expeditiously but when the country votes for Republican policy, the bureaucracy must be dragged kicking and screaming.

 

Over at Labor, employees are coordinating in private emails to oppose the nomination for the Secretary of Labor.  Oh, that is going to make for a great working relationship if Puzder gets the job.  The same sort of opposition is surely happening at the Dept of Education regarding Betsy DeVos, at EPA for Pruitt, at Energy for Perry, etc. 

 

Thanks to civil service reform, we have non-partisan civil servants.  After all, labor statisticians can do statistics for Republicans or Democrats, right?  Of course, if someone came along who thought a particular bureaucracy needed streamlining and economizing, the current non-partisan bureaucrats might suddenly find they aren't as non-partisan as they thought.

 

It is entirely appropriate for an employee to voice disagreements.  A good boss will take note and perhaps moderate.  However, if not, the employees do what the boss instructs, provided it is legal.  If the employee cannot do this, it is time to find another job.  Assembling a resistance movement within the organization should result in immediate termination.

 

Yet again, here is evidence that the bureaucracy needs to be emptied on a regular basis.  The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act (1883) succeeded in creating a bureaucratic leviathan that is barely responsive to the elected representatives of the people.  Let's go back to the spoils system.  Sure, we'll get a crop of novices every 4 years but government 'service' will cease being a career.

Uncivil Service

Here is an excellent article by Glenn Reynolds.  The civil service has demonstrated that it is in the pocket of the Democratic Party.  The DOJ declined to indict Hillary but was happy to go after Republican Governor Bob McDonald.  The DOJ had plenty of free time to harass Tea Party groups applying for tax free status but somehow could not do anything regarding the armed Black Panthers who had loitered at a polling station during the 2008 election.

 

In the late 19th Century, it was determined that something needed to be done about the spoils system.  Back then, when a new President arrive in Washington, he started handing out jobs to supporters.  This wholesale sweep of government officials to make room for Cousin William, long time friend Robert, and that fellow who provided alcohol for that campaign event started to look bad.  It had looked bad for a long time but it had become intolerable.  Thus, Civil Service Reform was passed and one of my heroes, Theodore Roosevelt, served on the US Civil Service Commission, seeking to stamp out the spoils system.  Henceforth, there would be professional civil servants who would do their job regardless of which party was in office.  Now the Department of Justice would indict criminals without regard to party affiliation.  Right?  The IRS would apply the same standards to applications for tax free status regardless of political beliefs.  Wouldn't it?

 

It turns out that people in favor of bigger government are the kind of people who become civil servants in bigger government.  Over the decades, the various bureaucracies have been taken over by Democrats.  Sure, the occasional Republican will be appointed to run the bureaucracy but the leftward bent remains entrenched.  This is certainly a huge improvement from the Democrats' view but a permanent and growing obstacle to Republicans even when they are in charge.  Democrats want to expand government, something civil servants want.  Republicans supposedly want to shrink government, which means job losses for civil servants.  Is it any wonder the bureaucracies are innately hostile to right-leaning groups and also willing to ignore wrongdoing by Democrats?

 

Nepotism is less corrupt.  Bring back the spoils system!