Introduction
Democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. The essence of the American Revolution was to create such a government that would allow Americans to gain liberty, equality and freedom. This was to be based on fair representation of the people and the Separation of Powers between three arms of government. For practical purposes though, it is necessary for governance to be exercised by a group of people in the arms of government. This has been abused over the years and the people of America supposed to collectively determine affairs of government in a democracy have been restricted and limited by bureaucracy. This paper argues that there is an inherent conflict between democracy and bureaucracy and this has culminated in the institution of a mechanical model of rules and regulations that limits the liberties of the American people.
America always considers itself as a democracy and considers its opponents – from Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union to North Korea as “totalitarian” regimes. The main difference between the democracy of America guaranteed by the American constitution and these states is that America vests its source of power in the people and the people have their rights protected by the Bill of Rights. The American Bill of Rights protects the rights of citizens and this is something that totalitarian countries do not have. However, in terms of public management, totalitarian regimes and democracies like America’s democracy share a commonality – bureaucracy. Bureaucracy comes up when power is centralized and the personal liberties of citizens are restricted. This is done through the presentation of power and authority to various arms of government.
The US Constitution defines the functions of the federal government. This includes raising taxes, supporting a common military and protecting the borders. Everything not covered in the specific obligations of the federal government is handed over to the states. Each state has to regulate affairs. In all fairness, the US constitution remains very broad and vague. This means there are many conventions and legal parameters that evolve over time to define what the government must do to regulate affairs. These can be used and abused by various authorities in government as long as they can be justified and can be interpreted to be in the scope of the constitution and within the best interest of the people.
Congressional prioritization and authorization gives way for the creation of rules and procedures that can be systematically expanded to limit more rights and liberties of individual Americans. Bureaucracy is often disguised as problem-solving. This is because as long as a problem can be identified, the appropriate authorities can seize power and limit the rights of the ordinary American citizen. This can be implemented limitlessly except when the ordinary citizen can successfully invoke his right under the Bill of Rights to limit government. However, in most cases, these are complicated and there are few options for the ordinary citizen. Thus, the bureaucratic system continues to exist whilst the input of citizens are limited.
The conflict between democracy and bureaucracy is serious. It invokes a lot of concerns and issues relating to the main matters that led to the American Revolution. The American Revolution came up because Americans asked for representation because they were paying taxes. Thus, the US Constitution was established to promote real democracy where all taxpayers could be duly protected and their inputs could be taken and appropriate action could be taken to deal with them. However, in the presence of bureaucracy, the selfsame problems and issues of British colonization comes to play. This is because where there is bureaucracy, the government can get away with almost anything they want. This is just what the British colonialists were doing. If Americans cannot contribute to the running of their country and they can only vote and their vote does not change anything, then America is not different from any totalitarian regime in the world.
Bureaucracy refers to the institution of a mechanistic set of rules and regulations that are applied irrespective of who is in power or authority. This is because bureaucracy is instituted through laws and regulations in America that change slowly. Due to this, there is the establishment of consensuses and procedures that are imposed upon all people and all persons who fit a specific set of variables. This makes the system work like a machine without any kind of sensitivity to the specific rights of ordinary people – particularly people with little money or influence.
This includes things like:
Established administrative procedures
Complicated judicial reviews and
Agency discretion
Bureaucracy is always defended by the fact that it simplifies things and enables the American authorities to solve problems and deal with issues. This leads to a mechanistic system of doing things. This gives room for a lot of corruption and error. This is because we just assume there are mechanisms in place to deal with everything. Therefore, there is no need to look at things closely and deal with them. A case in point is the mass incarceration of poor Americans of specific races. It is assumed there are procedures. And these procedures are applied without spending time to critique matters and look at facts closely. There are many people who end up in jail not because of what they have actually done. But because a prosecutor presented blanket charges that were never linked to the events at hand. There is so much generalization and until a person has a lot of money to pay a good lawyer to challenge the system, cases go through the system without notice.
These gross generalizations causes situations whereby due process is abused. Bureaucracy therefore becomes a problem, rather than a solution. It causes people supposed to be protected by the legal system to become victims of the system. This is because there is so much discretion based on an inefficient and sometimes rigged system.
Liberty can only be guaranteed if people are part of the decision-making process. The presentation of power to a small body of officials and agencies of the various arms of government causes the government to be distant from the people. This is because the authorities do things in ways that are not transparent. Most Americans live thousands of miles away from Washington. They have no idea what happens in Washington, DC. However, things that are done in the city and signed in the White House come to influence all aspects of their lives and limits various elements of their lives in ways that are less than ideal. This makes the conflict between bureaucracy and democracy a highly destructive one.
Furthermore, the creation of bureaucracy creates a high-risk situation whereby a small group of elite grows to rule the masses. The only solution is to get people to participate in decision-making. This is because the exclusion of the masses and ordinary Americans from decision-making means that the small group of people who are in government can do far-reaching acts that will benefit them. These groups are likely to get offers from a small group of elites – campaign funders who will always pay them in various forms to influence policy in their favor. This is a sellout of the masses and causes democracy and its values to be defeated in totality.
In conclusion, democracy is about government for they people by the people. American democracy differs from totalitarianism because it guarantees the rights of ordinary citizens. However, in terms of bureaucracy, American democracy is opened to the same level of risk and abuse as any other totalitarian regime. This is because arms of government often institute standard procedures to ensure that decisions are made in ways that follows due process. The nature of the constitution allows arms of government to make rules and regulations. This gets perilous when the rules and regulations become mechanistic and does not respect the rights of individual citizens. This breeds elitism. And the only solution is to allow the ordinary people to participate in the decision-making process. This will keep the institutions open to scrutiny and public reviews.
References
Commager, H. S. (1993). Commager on Tocqueville. Missouri: University of Missouri Press.
Cook, B. (2014). Bureaucracy and Self-Government. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Kornhauser, A. (2015). Debating the American State: Liberal Anxieties and the New Leviathan, 1930-1970. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Peatman, J. (2013). The Long Shadow of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Chicago: Southern Illinois Press.
Workman, S. (2015). The Dynamics of Bureaucracy in the US Government. New York: Cambridge University Press.
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