Letter from Washington

Our Civil Service, the civics teachers tell us, was set up to safeguard us from the depredations of the spoils system. Under the Civil Service system, candidates for government jobs are chosen by competitive examination, and promoted because of merit. Our government thus operates independently of political patronage.

That’s the way it is on paper. But in reality, it’s all moonshine. There are examinations, and there are merit promotions, but for the most part these occur at the lower levels only. When you reach the $20,000 level, there is a barrier, much like that barrier encountered in the armed services: theoretically, on paper, you can rise from private to general; but those who actually make the leap from the non-commissioned to the commissioned ranks are just a bit more common than white buffalo. And that is also true of the Civil Service. If you want one of those jobs paying up into the $50,000s, you have to know someone, and your party credentials have to be impeccable. If you’re not well connected in Washington, or if you belong to the wrong party, then it’s pointless to subject yourself to the ordeal of filling out the required form for government employment. No one’s going to see it.

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Our Civil Service, the civics teachers tell us, was set up to safeguard us from the depredations of the spoils system. Under the Civil Service system, candidates for government jobs are chosen by competitive examination, and promoted because of merit. Our government thus operates independently of political patronage.

That’s the way it is on paper. But in reality, it’s all moonshine. There are examinations, and there are merit promotions, but for the most part these occur at the lower levels only. When you reach the $20,000 level, there is a barrier, much like that barrier encountered in the armed services: theoretically, on paper, you can rise from private to general; but those who actually make the leap from the non-commissioned to the commissioned ranks are just a bit more common than white buffalo. And that is also true of the Civil Service. If you want one of those jobs paying up into the $50,000s, you have to know someone, and your party credentials have to be impeccable. If you’re not well connected in Washington, or if you belong to the wrong party, then it’s pointless to subject yourself to the ordeal of filling out the required form for government employment. No one’s going to see it.