Although Dictionary.com uses the word “government” in most of its definitions of the word “bureaucracy”, they do have one definition that I believe is more accurate. That definition says that a bureaucracy is “any organization in which action is obstructed by insistence on unnecessary procedures and red tape”.
Bingo!
If having to visit my primary care physician each time he gives me a referral to see another doctor isn’t bureaucratic bullshit, I don’t know what is.
I worked for a global Fortune 500 corporation for 25 years and I’ve seen bureaucracy at its best. If one is in the midst of completing a project and his or her boss is in Greece or Germany and the engineer needs permission from that boss to take the next step, that action is being obstructed by the insistence that the engineer is not empowered to take the next step without becoming involved with bureaucratic action.
Bureaucracy is not unique to government. There’s at least as much bureaucracy in the private sector, especially in huge, global corporations, as there is in government.
Is it wasteful for me to have to see a doctor to get permission to see another doctor each and every time? You damn betcha!
Ayn Rand and Every Man for Himself
I’m not certain what Ayn Rand would say about this situation. I believe that today’s Libertarians are slightly less narcissistic, selfish and self serving than she was, but not by much.
I know that Ron Paul would fight to the death against universal health care because it’s not his responsibility to help other American citizens. They should have planned and lead a frugal life. If they did that, they’d have the money needed for health care and all of the other necessities of life.
Ayn Rand and her followers, including Ron Paul, must believe that humans are produced via a cookie cutter. All humans are equal and if each human being is “virtuous”, as Rand said in her interview, works hard and “sacrifices” for himself or herself, that human being will be successful.
If all human beings are allowed to keep all of their earnings, using none of it to help others, coupled with virtuosity and hard work, then all “deserving”, another word Rand was fond of, human beings would be successful.
One of the Most Enlightening Epiphanies of my Life
I refer to an epiphany which occurred to me in 1988 quite often in my articles. It happened when I was promoted to the position of Operations Supervisor for the above mentioned corporation.
The epiphany came when I, as part of the hiring team, met with the rest of the hiring team. So as to not repeat the filth that spewed from the mouths of the other members of hiring team, which included the Human Resources Manager, here’s the link to that epiphany one more time.
This was a global corporation which was on a hiring spree at the time and the year was 1988! One can only imagine what this hiring team, and hiring teams for all such decent paying corporations did before the creation of the government’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
How Would Representative Paul React to Reality?
I’d like to have asked Rand how these people were supposed to be frugal, virtuous and work hard to become successful. But I’ll put the question out to Ron Paul. How, Representative Paul, were people of color or people whose ethnicity or people whose gender were the only barriers between decent employment and poverty supposed to follow your rules of frugality, virtuosity and hard work? How would they have overcome the hateful, greedy prejudice of those who did the hiring for large corporations if not with the help of the government? And how was the government supposed to find the revenues to help these people if not by taxing Americans?
