How Big Should A Bureaucracy Be?

[VetLegion]

We have the presidential elections today and while I was comparing candidates
I noticed that literally all of them were promising to push for a smaller bureaucracy.

Now, how do we know that B is too large? I mean, it's common knowledge that
it is, but is there any way to objectively measure that? Are there any international
comparisons of sizes of B? Is there an ideal number of B per capita, or at least
a commonly accepted number, or something?

Obviously, if we have a government, we need bureaucracy, but how big is too big
and how small is too small?


P.S.
Do registrations at WePlayCiv work? I attempted to create a nickname there
yesterday but still haven't gotten the registration confirmation email.

[SlowwHand]

You can't really define too big or too little unless it is.

P.S. I would assume so, since I am.

[germanos]

We need civil servants but we can do without the bureaucrats

[Berzerker]

it is the nature of government to grow and liberty give way

or something like that from Thomas Jefferson

he's right, people in government want power and to get their family/friends jobs
I imagine there's plenty of redundancy, even moreso than the private sector. I hate to say it but the problem with our system is campaign financing, its little more than legalized bribery.

[RoboCon]

9/11 could not have occurred in a Libertarian society. As soon as the Muslim hijackers began brandishing their box-cutters they would have been cut down in a hail of bullets from every gun-toting God-fearing Christian on the airplane, assuming the hijackers were not shot before even going through the security checkpoint.

[Provost Harrison]

Amazing thread! Finally someone who can spell bureaucracy

[VetLegion]

Exactly as I thought! Everybody is against it, yet nobody knows what the
right number should be.

[Japher]

42

[Thoth]

Exactly as I thought! Everybody is against it, yet nobody knows what the
right number should be.

The solution is simple: Start hanging bureaucrats. Keep doing it until the government's efficiency starts to drop. Then hire 1 more.

[Tattila the Hun]

Bureaucracy should meet the needs of bureaucracy. Or how was it.