Politicians vs. Technocrats

Wonder why politians are so eager to cut back on financing entitlements and trimming entitlement budgets?  That's because they have no control over how the money is allocated and spent once its placed in the hands of an administrative technocrat in charge of some particular entitlement program.  And, as government continues to expand entitlements--first, social security, then medicare, now medicaid--Congress is going to become even more frustrated and feel even more left out of the decision-making processes in government.

Why just this morning, the technocrats in the Treasury and Federal Reserve were warning Congress that if it failed to pass the current tax-unemployment-extended package,  a compromise, dire economic consequences would ensue, including an even steeper plunge in unemployment figures.  Despite the fact that Democratic progressives are unhappy with the bill in its outline form, they are being told by these technocrats and the Vice President, who is heeding their words, to shut up and go along!

This morning, I was also listening to the Dr. Bill Bennett program on the radio.  He was moaning over the fact that Congress seems to be losing control to a bunch of technocrats in governmental adminstrative positions.  His view of a technocrat is a bit passe and dated, I believe,  Remember Katrina?  Bush had made a political appointment, placing someone in charge of the federal agency handling such physical disasters, someone who knew little about dealing with such matters but who was loyal to Bush's team.  That appointment backfired;  and the individual was removed in favor of someone who was a technocrat in the field.  At one time, political appointments were the name of the game--support the winning candidate and you've got a job for four years.  But the country has moved toward establishing its government as a technocracy--not socialist, communist, nor capitalist--not committed to any ideology, but instead making knowledge and science the basis for decision-making, e.g., formulating policy and administering it.

Bill Bennett thinks, I suppose, that technocrats are only in govcrnment and education.  But he's wrong.  Most technocrats are in industry!  During and after the Gulf Oil Spill,  BP brought in its own technocrats to analyze the situation and decide how to overcome it.  That's what technocrats do:  they engage situations using the best technology available and from their findings and trial-and-error solutiions to situational problems share what they have learned with the industry at large, viz., other oil companies, so everbody benefits.  The procedure they follow, well known in technocratic circles, is known as action research.  

Nonethelsss,  in a technocracy, politicians play a vital role for its success.  1) They hire and fire adinistrative technocrats.  Obama recently let go a techncrat from the Univeresity of California-Berkeley apparently for her inability to measure up to her assigned responsibilities; but he has hired since his becoming President several administrative technocrats he calls "czars!"  2) They serve as a go-between between the public and the technocrats, explaining matters of administrative policy made by technocrats, defending such decisions, while at the same time communicating to these technocrats the public's concerns, apprehensions and desired outcomes regarding a federal program.  3) They establish and close down programs through their control of the federal purse strings; and regulate the degree of financial support available to any such program; 4) They bring in their own technocratic consultants to evaluate a program or call upon the GAO to monitor.  Particuarly is this function useful in detecting any politically motivated, rather than scientifically founded, policy or decision made by an administrative technocrat.  This is no different than the way industry proceeds in evaluating their cadre of technocrats. BP's decisions and technological procedures were overseen by the US military and once the wells were capped sucessfully, BP technocrats had to account for their actions to numerous other technocrats in the oil and gas field as part of an evaluative process.

The US is not yet a technocracy, however, though I believe that it is taking the proper steps toward that end.  Just last week, a Congressional committee offered its suggestions and recommendations for dramatically reducing the US debt.  In a technocracy, only experts in the fields of economics and its applications to government should be formulating and refining and evaluating technical decisions of this nature.
   
Enough already!