A Bloated Bureaucracy (ANSWERED)

QUESTION

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

• Textbook: Chapter 13, 14
• Lesson: Read this Week’s Lesson which is located in the Modules tab
• Initial Post: minimum of 2 scholarly sources (must include your textbook for one of the sources). Follow-Up Post: minimum of 1 scholarly source for your Follow-Up Post.

Initial Post Instructions

For the initial post, respond to one of the following options, and label the beginning of your post indicating either Option 1 or Option 2: (write both options)

• Option 1: How does the bureaucracy affect your life, and thus, your freedom as an ordinary citizen? In what ways does it hinder or help your life? Do you see the bureaucracy as an effective aspect in your life or do you see issues with the bureaucracy as it stands? Why/why not? List one issue you would change concerning the bureaucracy and how you would remedy the issue.
• Option 2: Identify a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court and discuss the nature of the case and the basis of the argument the Supreme Court used to reach the decision. Explain why you agree or disagree with the ruling?

Be sure to make connections between your ideas and conclusions and the research, concepts, terms, and theory we are discussing this week.

ANSWER

Option 1: A Bloated Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy affects my life by determining my access to social resources and public services and how public justice is delivered. Mattayang et al. (2020) stated that “bureaucracy is an excellent force in providing services to the community … because every policy made by the bureaucracy will affect the joints of human life in a country.” Bureaucracies implement laws and develop regulations that affect our daily lives. For example, the federal bureaucracy comprises 15 executive departments that make up the president’s cabinet. These departments are further divided into independent regulatory agencies, executive agencies, and government corporations responsible for creating policies related to social security, food, water, air quality, income tax, etc. For example, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) creates policies that directly affect my access to quality healthcare services, while the Department of Housing and Urban Development addresses my housing needs. Bureaucracy affects an individual’s quality of life by influencing the type of public services available to the public.

I believe bureaucracy is an ineffective element in my life, evidenced by its inability to meet expected performance. Public services, e.g., health insurance and reimbursement programs, have become heavily politicized, negatively affecting service delivery. Mountains of paper rules and strict adherence to rules also demonstrate its inefficiency. Bureaucracy requires individuals to submit a huge amount of paperwork as a prerequisite for receiving government services. These processes are lengthy, frustrating, and time-consuming.

The bureaucratic system itself is one issue I would change about bureaucracy for reasons stated above. Osborne and Plastrik (1997) propose shifting from bureaucratic to entrepreneurial systems to allow the government and public organizations to continually self-improve and enhance its ability to innovate and adapt. The authors suggest five strategies for reinventing the government from a bureaucratic system: the core strategy, the consequences strategy; the customer strategy; the control strategy; and the culture strategy.

Option 2: Inclusive Supreme Court

The Supreme Court recently overturned the Roe v Wade decision, ending women’s right to abortion. The Supreme Court argued that the right to abortion is not deeply rooted in US traditions and history, nor was it considered a right when the Due Process Class was ratified. The Court stated,

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely—the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment” (Idaeho, 2022).

Because there is no express provision in the Constitution granting the right to abortion, the Supreme Court decided to outlaw it except in the cases of medical emergencies.

I do not support this decision because it risks women’s health and lives. Supporters of abortion ban believe that outlawing the practice will deter it, but various studies have shown the opposite is true (Oberman, 2022). Banning abortion does not deter the practice because women will opt for alternative channels to terminate their pregnancies. Oberman (2022) reveals that 76% of women abort because they cannot afford child-rearing costs. Other factors driving women to abortion include their job, relationship, and health status. Banning abortion does not address any of these issues, meaning it does not address the root causes and cannot be effective. Oberman (2022) indicates that reducing access to legal abortion motivates women to opt for unsafe abortions, increasing maternal mortality rates. Because the primary motivation for abortion is still there, the woman will either find a doctor to perform the abortion illegally, travel to another region, or opt for cheaper back-street procedures. Also, abortion medications, e.g., misoprostol, are still widely available in the market. Restricting access to abortion medication has been unsuccessful because these medications are also essential for reducing deaths related to postpartum hemorrhages and miscarriages and illegal abortion (Oberman, 2022). Given the availability of abortion medications, coupled with the fact that the ban does not address the root causes of abortion, the Court’s decision is pointless.

References

Idaeho, R. (2022). Turning Point in American Abortion Law: Us Supreme Court’s Reversal of Roe V. Wade. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4158561

Mattayang, B., Syam, H., & Akib, H. (2020, October). The Impact of Bureaucracy Politicization in the Public Services Process in Indonesia. International Conference on Education, Science, and Technology. 48. https://www.atlantis-press.com/article/125945462.pdf

Oberman, M. (2022). What will and won’t happen when abortion is banned. Journal of Law and the Biosciences, 9(1), lsac011. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9050237/

Osborne, D., & Plastrik, P. (1997). Banishing Bureaucracy: The Five Strategies for Reinventing Government. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., 1 Jacob Way, Reading, MA 01867.

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