Describe some public criticisms of the federal bureaucracy generally and bureaucrats specifically as they go about their duties.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

While complaints about the bureaucracy generally are as old as the institution itself, recent decades have seen a renewed focus on highlighting its failures and offering reforms to fix them. One set of critiques focuses on the inefficiency of large and complex bureaucracies. The term red tape, derived from “the narrow ribbons used at one time in England and America to tie up packets of legal and government documents,” conjures up images of bureaucrats mindlessly following rules and standard operating procedures, whether or not it actually helps get things done. Another line of critique emphasizes the tendencies of federal departments, bureaus, and agencies to be budget maximizers—that is, to seek to expand their level of appropriations beyond that necessary for the efficient provision of their services.
On the specific bureaucrat level, complaints range from bureaucrats engaging in bureaucratic drift, wherein the stray from their duties to non essential tasks, shirking, where they do not act effectively or responsibly, or sabotage, wherein they actively work against their agencies. Moreover, agency capture, wherein a bureaucrat works in favor of an industry or corporation he or she is supposed to regulate, is also a concern.