Comments on Southern Gossip's "The Bureaucracy"

A classmate of mine, Southern Gossip, published a well written perspective on the effects of the bureaucratic system, entitled The Bureaucracy. Here are my thoughts:

First of all, I found your blog entry to be insightful and very interesting. It is a good point that the bureaucratic system tends to diminish individualism and unique thought. You say that "the real harm of the bureaucracy is not in the excessive rules or annoying red tape--it is the creation of ineffective human beings." I agree; however I think it is important to realize that the former is directly responsible for the latter. That being said, the bureaucratic system as a whole, with its excessive rules and red tape, must be reformed in order to allow individuals to think independently. The difficult question--How do we reform this huge, well established, complex bureaucracy? I certainly don't have an exact answer, but I think there are a few things to start with. First of all, I think the bureaucracy could be cleaned up a little bit--we could combine some offices with similar purposes that tend to compete with each other anyway. I also believe that allotting employers more flexibility in their jobs would lead to more creative work. Furthermore, I think that increasing the amount of contact that the agencies have with actual citizens would reduce the tendency of the bureaucracy to be so impersonal. I believe all of these reforms would create more effective human beings, and thus a more effective bureaucracy.