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Just another goverment program
In politics, there is what's called the "Ratchet Effect." It's a term used to describe the government's inability to scale back huge government programs once they are established. With most bureaucracies, this has certainly been the case, and with few exceptions, government growth has led to more government growth.
Here's one example of how this works. People are employed by sitting U.S. congressmen to provide something called "constituent services." What do people in "constituent services" do? They help constituents cut though government red tape when they are trying to claim some government benefit. The senior prescription drug benefit plan passed on President George W. Bush's watch is an example that comes to mind.
Let's say a little old lady is in need of coverage for some prescription drug and knows that she is eligible for it, but she isn't sure how to go about getting said coverage. What does she do? She picks up the telephone and calls her local congressman, whose constituent services personnel takes care of the problem.
For the full column, see Page 5A of this week's Citizen.
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Chad Rogers is publisher of The Dead Pelican, a news web site. The site can be read at www.thedeadpelican.com. |
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