Jerry Pournelle was a modern-day renaissance man who had the unique ability to see life from both sides of his brain—right and left. An operations and weapons scientist with BOEING and as a consultant to many Aerospace and military contractors his insights into “how things work” was sought by captains of industry, military leaders, and politicians. He devised a weapons system called “rods from the gods” that would drop thousands of tungsten rods from high altitude creating physical devastation without radioactive fallout. He was also a journalist and the writer of science fiction novels and comic books.
For me one of his most prescient insights—almost prophetic in my opinion, was his Iron Law of bureaucracy”:
Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representatives who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.
Sound familiar? As I survey not only the economic and political landscapes today, as I look across all our institutions—government, churches, business, the academy and even the most important of all the family, I see the IRON LAW becoming the rule rather than the exception to the rule. Bureaucracy is a function of scale. The larger the organization the more likely Pournelle’s rule will come into play. Another way of saying this is that as those who manage the providers of services or workers who make things become ever more divorced from the process and the customer (client, patient, student, customer, parishioner) —you name it, the more difficult the process becomes in completing the desired result. In the economic case there is ever increasing insertion of agency between supply and demand. The more people and processes involved in an actual transaction, the more expansion there will be around a price point. Utility and value become more difficult to discern.
Whether we are talking about hospital systems, corporations, churches or schools, vertical and horizontal integration and their promise of economies of scale also come with the cost of an increased need to manage the larger organization. And by managing, I don’t just mean managing a balance sheet or a profit and loss statement, but also there is a need to manage the stated goals of the organization and the people within it. An inertia within the organization sets in, and though always unstated, the people rising within the organization will be the ones looking after their individual selfish interests (not “self-interest” )there is a difference.
One of the greatest teachers I have ever known was head of the English Department at Bishop Kelly High School. Over thirty years I don’t believe she ever forgot the name of a student, or the topic of their Senior thesis. All she cared about was teaching her students—not becoming an administrator or union leader. I have known people who went into education to become Principals or administrators with no desire to teach. These are the people that “rise to the top” in education. The legendary college football coach Woody Hayes required of himself and all his assistants to teach one undergraduate course a year to regular students. He felt a person couldn’t be a good coach unless they were also good teachers, and the only way to learn how to teach was to actually teach. When his team traveled to visiting colleges part of the “road trip” was to observe some famous professor from the college teaching a class. Watching a Nobel Prize winner teaching a class in thermodynamics didn’t teach thermodynamics to his players, but they got to observe a teacher, teaching a subject that they believe passionately about. In observing such a lecture his players came to understand the value of pursuing one’s goals in life passionately.
Every person I ever knew who worked for J. R. Simplot claimed that whenever he visited with them at a factory or a feedlot, or at corporate headquarters—he knew their name and knew what they did. If bureaucracy is a function of scale, J. R. knew how to cut right through it. He also made known to them the value that they gave to the organization—both in economic terms but most importantly in the value of their human capital (which on more than one occasion he made known to me by the calculations in his head) —on the spot.
I came into the Catholic Church as an adult. Baptism and confirmation occurred for me during the Easter season in Keflavik Iceland. The Bishop that “washed my feet” was Cardinal John O’Conner the Bishop of New York City. He took a great amount of time to visit with all thirteen people being confirmed that day, to learn and respect each of our lives’ journeys up until that time. For many years he continued to stay connected with us. He knew the value of our “human capital” and most of all respected it.
I watched in person Ronald Reagan attend the families of deceased Marines during a ceremony at Camp Lejeune for the Marines who perished in the Beirut Marine Corps bombings. He and his wife Nancy spent many hours in the rain talking to the begrieved wives, girlfriends, parents, and brothers and sisters. He understood the value of their lives. He was anything but a middle manager or an aloof head of a government agency.
These giants in their fields all understood the value of “connection”. I know many businesspeople who value their employees very much like they value their own family members. Unfortunately, many of these businesses began in an age before businesses at all levels became overrun with bureaucracy.
Finally, we get to the nidus of the bureaucratic situation in our society—government. Like so many “mega churches”, or international businesses, the organizations are run by people who have little understanding of the process that they are managing. The people rising to the top of these bureaucracies are the ones who have the least amount of talent in doing the jobs that they are managing. In our military today the brightest and the best whether in aviation (pilots and mechanics) or technical fields like the Nuclear Navy, leave the services as soon as they can because of the ineptness of the middle managers and even the upper-level managers who have abandoned the principles of the organizations for their own upward mobility (promotions) and careers. The brightest and best in our military are not serving at the Pentagon or in Four Star Billets. They are flying for United or running their own businesses.
As Donald Trump found out in Washington DC, we know to be true in our own bureaucratic State of Idaho. Our government, including politicians in the executive and legislative branches is run by a collusion of forces that includes corporatist special interest lobbyists and bureaucrats in government agencies. Many times, these people bounce back and forth during their careers between the public and private sector. “Middle Management” rules in Idaho. The larger the organization the more likely Pournelle’s rule comes into play. The best example I can think of is the Medicaid budget of $4.6 billion this year—almost 45% of the total state budget. With almost one in five Idahoans on Medicaid and with one in five enrollees being fraudulently enrolled, with providers “upcoding” and large hospital systems leveraging a system of economic incentives for increasing revenues via government transfer payments more than ever. We never had a hospital CEO make $18million/2yrs until Medicaid expansion. It is time for our solons in Boise to demand accountability—for the sake of the people who pay taxes to support Medicaid. Healthcare premiums continue to rise faster than the rate of inflation.
In our BUREAUCRATIC STATE, our new legislature and its leaders (especially Mr. Moyle) have an opportunity to define for us who they are. Are they in the first group defined by Mr. Pournelle— working and sacrificing for their constituents or are they in the second group— working and sacrificing for themselves and the special interests. With a “Citizens Legislature” the answer should be obvious. From where I sit in Garden City it is not!
