Republican efforts to destroy science continue apace..

[Sava]

A bureaucracy is a group of non-elected officials within a government or other institution that implements the rules, laws, ideas, and functions of their institution. By definition Congress isn't part of it.

You should read all definitions of a term, not just what Wikipedia says.

from merriam webster

an administrative policy-making group

and

government characterized by specialization of functions, adherence to fixed rules, and a hierarchy of authority

Elected/unelected doesn't matter. Congress is a bureaucracy. Also, any organization can be a bureaucracy. It doesn't have to be a government entity.

[DinoDoc]

Please specify whether it's the word Federal or the word Bureaucracy that you are taking issue with. I'm definitely going to get the chance to laugh at you, but I want to be sure I'm laughing at you exactly the right thing.

A bureaucracy is a group of non-elected officials within a government or other institution that implements the rules, laws, ideas, and functions of their institution. By definition Congress isn't part of it.

[dannubis]

... but not to them.

[kentonio]

That is fixing it.

It's quite telling that the same people who whine about fiscal responsibility seem perfectly willing to propose ideas that would be wildly wasteful or destructive in practice.

[kentonio]

No. This isn't the UK where the upper level executive consists of members of Parliament. Congress passes laws, it has nothing to do with the execution of those laws in any way.

Please specify whether it's the word Federal or the word Bureaucracy that you are taking issue with. I'm definitely going to get the chance to laugh at you, but I want to be sure I'm laughing at you exactly the right thing.

[Sava]

No. This isn't the UK where the upper level executive consists of members of Parliament. Congress passes laws, it has nothing to do with the execution of those laws in any way.

I would imagine congressional oversight has something to do with the execution of laws. But then again, I passed American Government when I was in school.

[Hauldren Collider]

I think you need to go away and relearn what the words federal and bureaucracy mean.

No. This isn't the UK where the upper level executive consists of members of Parliament. Congress passes laws, it has nothing to do with the execution of those laws in any way.

[Hauldren Collider]

So a 'quick glance' is enough to tell you that completely destroying and rebuilding the federal government is more efficient than say.. fixing it?

That is fixing it.

[Sava]

Republicans don't want to rebuild anything. They just want to destroy the government. If reg were saying these things from a cave in Yemen, we'd drop a missile on him.

[kentonio]

Um, duh? Never has been. It's the legislature.

I think you need to go away and relearn what the words federal and bureaucracy mean.

It is from personal experience, although not spanning decades. It only takes a quick glance to see that something has gone horribly wrong inside several departments. It's not the people the president appoints, it's the career people.

So a 'quick glance' is enough to tell you that completely destroying and rebuilding the federal government is more efficient than say.. fixing it?

[regexcellent]

Well done for not being the first person in the thread to say that, and for not bothering to read/respond to the posts that already talked about why this is a bad idea.

Thread's too long, didn't bother reading

Congress now isn't part of the federal bureaucracy?

Um, duh? Never has been. It's the legislature.

This would be based on your many decades of experience inside the department of labor and various other federal departments I take it?

It is from personal experience, although not spanning decades. It only takes a quick glance to see that something has gone horribly wrong inside several departments. It's not the people the president appoints, it's the career people.

[kentonio]

I have an idea, why not just NOT fund science and let private industry fund stuff it thinks it'll be useful.

Well done for not being the first person in the thread to say that, and for not bothering to read/respond to the posts that already talked about why this is a bad idea.

Letting the executive branch decides what gets funded is way worse than Congress deciding because the federal bureaucracy is a horrible cesspit.

Congress now isn't part of the federal bureaucracy?

There are entire bureaus, such as the department of labor, that should just be fired en masse and rebuilt from the ground up.

This would be based on your many decades of experience inside the department of labor and various other federal departments I take it?

[kentonio]

You do understand that pretty much every dollar of military funding is constantly reviewed in the dozens of committees that have oversight of some aspect of the military, right.

Congress controls the purse strings, there is no reason their priorities ( and by exteension ours) should not drive where that money goes. Scientists are not special in this regard in any way shape or form over say military officers or health care officials or civil engineers in this regard. All of those professionals who are spending government money do so at the direction of the government that provides it, unless you think we should write blank checks to the Pentagon and let them do what the will?

Which leads to idiotic crap like congress ordering a ton of extra tanks built that nobody needs because they care more about jobs and therefore votes in their districts than they do about spending priorities.

When the military says 'We don't need any more tanks, let's spend that money on developing the next generation of tank instead!', there's a fairly high likelihood that they actually know what they are talking about. Similarly if a board of scientists say 'Let's use part of our limited funding on x project' there's a pretty decent chance that it will be something they believe is worthwhile.

[Sava]

let private industry fund stuff

haha market twits are hilarious

[regexcellent]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...p_ref=politics

Brilliant, why not let some radical old guys who believe that jesus rode into Bethlehem on a velociraptor be the ones who determine which scientific research gets funded. No way this could possibly go wrong.

I have an idea, why not just NOT fund science and let private industry fund stuff it thinks it'll be useful.

Letting the executive branch decides what gets funded is way worse than Congress deciding because the federal bureaucracy is a horrible cesspit. There are entire bureaus, such as the department of labor, that should just be fired en masse and rebuilt from the ground up.