Down among the Bureaucrats

As a lifelong New Yorker, I was easily taken prisoner by the Washington stereotypes. I found them eminently believable, especially those involving the legendary Federal Bureaucrat. With no trouble at all, I envisioned legions of slothful bureaucrats bestirring themselves only to waste my hard-earned money or, on infrequent and unavoidable occasions, to frustrate the public will.

Now that I have moved to Washington and gotten to know many of these bureaucrats on a personal basis, however, I realize that I had underestimated the problem. These are not shiftless clockwatchers doodling on the notepad of life. Far from it. Their numbers are Asian, their efficiency Teutonic, and their objective nothing less than the fundamental reshaping of our society.

About the Author

Neal B. Freeman

Neal B. Freeman, businessman and journalist, was a director of National Review Inc. for 38 years.

As a lifelong New Yorker, I was easily taken prisoner by the Washington stereotypes. I found them eminently believable, especially those involving the legendary Federal Bureaucrat. With no trouble at all, I envisioned legions of slothful bureaucrats bestirring themselves only to waste my hard-earned money or, on infrequent and unavoidable occasions, to frustrate the public will.

Now that I have moved to Washington and gotten to know many of these bureaucrats on a personal basis, however, I realize that I had underestimated the problem. These are not shiftless clockwatchers doodling on the notepad of life. Far from it. Their numbers are Asian, their efficiency Teutonic, and their objective nothing less than the fundamental reshaping of our society.