In Praise of Bureaucrats

Bureaucrats get a bad name.  They really deserve a better reputation.

When a government has a good bureaucracy, you can rely on it to get things done.

You can depend on things to not come down to politicians from rival parties arguing over things, but rather to a thousand little guys doing their job.

Or perhaps a million little guys doing their job.

No matter who is President, no matter who controls Congress, you can count on the fire department to be there for you, you can count on the roads to be repaired, you can count on the protection against crime and hunger of a good government.

You may have to put up with a little paperwork.  But you can count on the important things.

This past week I found out that I had to take care of renewing my Medi-Cal, which is our California state equivalent of Medicare.  You might think that this would cause me to think badly of bureaucrats.

But the first thing I could think of was that I could count on them to give me enough time to get it done, and that I could count on them to make the process doable, that I could count on them to do their end of things and not just drop me from Medi-Cal.

That no matter who is in charge of Congress, that the infighting of politicians cannot get in the way, for they are only determining changes to laws and procedures in the future, that we have bureaucrats to handle the day to day running of things.

Thank you, bureaucrats!

I will not just be dropped from Medi-Cal.  I now know that I have a good two months to take care of it, and that nothing too difficult is required of me.

And this paperwork is important.  I don't want taxpayers to be paying for people who are abusing the system, who don't need Medi-Cal and have plenty of money.

And I know that I won't be just dropped like that, no matter how much the rival parties in Congress fight.

I know that no matter what happens in Congress, that the fire department will be run well, that important laws will protect us from murder and the court system will investigate each and every case thoroughly, that the roads will be repaired- helping our economy immensely (there is a reason that the Romans and the Incas are known for their roads!), that all these important things will get done, no matter how much the two parties fight in Congress.

Thank you, bureaucrats!

Politicians get a bad rap too.  There are good politicians too, and we can be thankful for them.

So thank you to those of you who keep the government running and give it guidance!

God loves you!

Sincerely,

David S. Annderson