A Trillion Here, a Trillion There

I had just read a column written by the distinguished David Brooks, a member of the seemingly shrinking tribe of moderate conservatives, when it dawned on me that it was garbage day.

I wheeled my can to the street and noticed upon returning to the house that someone had left a letter on my stoop.

Brooks’ column, titled “Death by a Thousand Paper Cuts,” addressed the growing bureaucratization of American life. Growth always brings associated costs, but in this case, the total is staggering, Brooks finds.

He cites an article from the Harvard Business Review, written by two management consultants, Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini, who have calculated that expanding bureaucracy costs the U.S. economy more than $3 trillion annually.

Over a third of health care costs in the U.S. goes to administration, notes Brooks. The same trend has overtaken institutions of higher learning where admin employees are being added at rates that far exceed those for faculty hirings.

“It’s not only that growing bureaucracies cost a lot of money,” Brooks writes. “They also enervate American society. They redistribute power from workers to rule makers and in so doing, sap initiative, discretion, creativity and drive.”

We’ve all been up against people who are governed by rules rather than reason. Upon completing the requirements for a master’s degree in corporate and public communication at a leading university, I looked forward to receiving my diploma. Trouble was, half of my credits had been recorded by a registrar at the school’s main campus and the other half by her counterpart at the branch campus I attended. I made no progress toward assembling a complete transcript until I got my campus dean involved.

My problem had revolved around people who had enough power to make my life difficult but were without the discretion needed to clear up a simple snafu.

Problems develop, too, when rules or laws are promulgated without regard for enforcement. I recall a meeting of the Panama City Beach City Council held at a time when thong bathing suits were popular among women. City officials drafted an ordinance in exacting detail, prescribing the minimum number of square inches of fabric that the backside of a bikini bottom must have.

After the measure passed, I asked the city’s police chief about enforcement. Would he be issuing rulers and calculators to his patrol personnel?

The letter on my stoop had been misdelivered and then placed at my front door by the unintended recipient. It was from the management company that enforces homeowner’s association rules where I live, including Article V, Section 5.1, pertaining to Maintenance of Lots.

I had been cited regarding a tree planted by my subdivision’s developer in a grass strip that fronts my house. An oak tree, mind you, that as it grows will produce roots capable of buckling concrete and asphalt and demand removal. I, meanwhile, was required to trim the tree because some of its branches were seen to “hang over the road or sidewalk” — by a matter of a few inches.

What would a town like Rosemary Beach or a city like Tallahassee be like if such a rule were in place in those communities? Will my street oak come to resemble a giant arborvitae in years to come?

Pity the dedicated employee whose job it is to ride around looking for unruly trees — or yard gnomes. (Yup, we have a rule against them, too. Giant plastic tortoise, good; gnome, no good.) Surely, that man or woman on the Petty Patrol would be far happier doing something that brings joy to people or makes their lives better.

Go carefully,

Steve Bornhoft, editor, 850 Magazine
sbornhoft@rowlandpublishing.com