Cost of Cronyism

The Civil Service was created to give the country a pool of trained professional administrators and circumvent the worst evils of the patronage system. Successive admininistrations have undermined these principles by creating an army of Presidential appointees at the top (now 3000 or so). No recent Presidency has been so dedicated to politization of the government that of Bush. Especially worrying has been his penchant for appointing unqualified political hacks and cronies to crucial policy and operational roles. FEMA's recent fumbles are a good example. NPR had a story is morning on how he has gutted and demoralized the civil rights division of the Justice Department.

The appointment of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court is only the latest example of this trend. More worrisome to me is the dominance of unqualified political hacks in places like the Treasury Department and the parts of Homeland Security charged with responding to health crises like an Avian flu epidemic.

Part of this "C average" President's appeal to those who feel put upon and disoriented in the complex modern world is his distaste and contempt for the the professional elites. This mediocre and determindly provincial President likes to appoint toadies and cronies. The American people are paying the price for his blunders in Iraq and FEMA. Unfortunately, there is plenty more where that came from.
A dollar crisis or an epidemic of bird flu could be far more costly than any of Bush's previous blunders, and the people in place to try to deal with those crises are the same incompetent cronies who have failed again and again.

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