Once the US federal government got large enough to need a force of employees the issue arose of how to fill these offices. Starting with Andrew Jackson the practice became one of handing out positions to political allies. Friendship, cronyism and the like played a role. For example, both Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne had civil service jobs awarded on the basis of political influence.
The problems with this system got continually worse and by the 1870’s it was clear that a change was needed. This culminated in 1883 with the Civil Service Reform Act which established the federal Civil Service Commission. But, putting government jobs in the hands of a professional bureaucracy would deprive political parties of an important perquisite to offer their supporters. So, the top level jobs remained reserved for political appointees. There was even some justification for this. It was claimed that the new president would need people that he trusted and who shared his policy objectives in order to work effectively.
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Things ran along pretty well, although there was lots of political humor directed at the appointment of ambassadors, especially to out-of-the-way countries. Big contributors would try to select the country they wished as a condition of the gift.
Technocrats like Carter and Clinton took the task of selecting knowledgeable people for the operational positions seriously, setting up groups to find and evaluate candidates. The cronies were mostly reserved for the top jobs. The emphasis was on expertise first and political affiliation second. The level of political contribution was not an important factor.
Under the present administration this all changed. With the cost of elections so high the number of people who were owed a payback mushroomed. Rather than have a technical selection committee, jobs were filled from lists recommended by the biggest political contributors. The result has been disastrous. Not only are the heads of departments political hacks, but so are their staffs, the exact people that are really supposed to do the real work. It is almost pointless to cite examples, there are so many: starting with the Iraq occupation team, FEMA, the FDA, the EPA and even NASA.
Another factor is the anti-intellectualism of Bush. As he has said many times himself he judges people on an emotional level. Without the technocratic infrastructure he has only two options available to him. He can “peer into their soul” as he said he did with Putin, or he can rely on the advice of those with whom he has already established an emotional relationship. The result is that people like Grover Norquist and Jack Abramhoff get their political buddies appointed. People like Wolfowitz get their wonk buddies appointed.
Unfortunately, for us and the world, too many of these appointees are in over their heads and we have seen the results: chaos in Iraq and the Gulf Coast, increased global warming and dependence on obsolete energy policies, and a rise in epidemic diseases. The rich may feel they are all protected from dislocation and thus, the spread of an incompetent bureaucracy won’t affect them. Perhaps Trent Lott would now like to consider his thoughts on the need for disaster planning as he views his destroyed Gulf Coast home.
Even high walls won’t protect these groups from a pandemic. It is time to bring the costs of incompetence and cronyism to the fore as both a political and social issue. Maybe it is time for a new civil service reform law as well.
