Northern Valley Beacon
Information, observations, and analysis from the James River valley on the Northern Plains----- E-Mail: Enter 'Beacon' in subject box. Send to: Minnekota@Referencedesk.orgFriday, December 23, 2005
FEMA destroyed by bureaucratic infighting
Today's Washington Post has a lengthy story detailing the infighting that took place when FEMA was merged into the Department of Homeland Security.
To people who have worked in bureaucracies, whether governmental or corporate, it is an old, old story. Most people work on agendas of control and domination with token gestures at cooperative effort to meet the goals of their bureacracy. Bureaucracies in which such people and agendas are allowed to dominate become devoted to insidious, vicious back-biting and infighting and become incompetent and dysfunctional in the process. That is the story of FEMA.
It is also the story of the values and brand of leadership of George W. Bush and his cronies. Bureaucracies take on the aspect of dog packs and chicken flocks in which individuals fight for dominance.
Reading the whole story may dampen or even extinguish your Christmas spirit, but it is a narrative of the times in which we live.
To people who have worked in bureaucracies, whether governmental or corporate, it is an old, old story. Most people work on agendas of control and domination with token gestures at cooperative effort to meet the goals of their bureacracy. Bureaucracies in which such people and agendas are allowed to dominate become devoted to insidious, vicious back-biting and infighting and become incompetent and dysfunctional in the process. That is the story of FEMA.
It is also the story of the values and brand of leadership of George W. Bush and his cronies. Bureaucracies take on the aspect of dog packs and chicken flocks in which individuals fight for dominance.
Reading the whole story may dampen or even extinguish your Christmas spirit, but it is a narrative of the times in which we live.
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