Books in Brief: How Washington Really Works

How Washington Really Works, by Charles Peters (Addison-Wesley, 146 pp., $10.95). I am normally suspicious of any book which purports to tell the “real” story behind anything, but Charles Peters’s book is an exception. The iconoclastic editor of the respected Washington Monthly has set out to show that Washington really doesn’t work and that everyone in our nation’s capital is dedicated to concealing this fact from the public. Elections, he says, really don’t make all that much difference in how we are governed. This is because the real power lies, not in the hands of elected officials, but with the unaccountable, uncontrollable bureaucracy, which he calls the “Permanent Government.” The name of the game in Washington is survival: no one, or almost no one, who has tasted the power and glamor of life in Washington can stomach the thought of returning home to an ordinary job. The result of this self-preservationist ideology is to place one’s career and job security even above the public interest and welfare. Now, Mr. Peters is not saying that Washington is devoid of conscientious, hard-working people who believe in the job they are there to do; what he is saying is that such people are decidedly in the minority. Mr. Peters calls the Washington game “make believe.” The President proclaims new initiatives which are rarely followed up with action. Congress appropriates huge sums, the spending of which is not accounted for in any intelligent sense. The press pretends to be hard-nosed, cynical, and objective but, in fact, is so spoiled by the perks available in Washington that it too is now part of the game. Military officers are more interested in promotions than in defeating the enemy. The important thing to remember is that this is not a conspiracy; it’s just that everyone wants to survive, and so goes along to get along. The only feasible way, Mr. Peters says, to restore some accountability to Washington is, ironically, to return to the system of political patronage. He believes that as many as half of the government’s 2.9 million employees could be politically appointed. The message to the politicians under such a system would be clear: Either your people do a good job, or you will lose yours.

JA

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John A. Barnes

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How Washington Really Works, by Charles Peters (Addison-Wesley, 146 pp., $10.95). I am normally suspicious of any book which purports to tell the “real” story behind anything, but Charles Peters’s book is an exception. The iconoclastic editor of the respected Washington Monthly has set out to show that Washington really doesn’t work and that everyone in our nation’s capital is dedicated to concealing this fact from the public. Elections, he says, really don’t make all that much difference in how we are governed. This is because the real power lies, not in the hands of elected officials, but with the unaccountable, uncontrollable bureaucracy, which he calls the “Permanent Government.” The name of the game in Washington is survival: no one, or almost no one, who has tasted the power and glamor of life in Washington can stomach the thought of returning home to an ordinary job. The result of this self-preservationist ideology is to place one’s career and job security even above the public interest and welfare. Now, Mr. Peters is not saying that Washington is devoid of conscientious, hard-working people who believe in the job they are there to do; what he is saying is that such people are decidedly in the minority. Mr. Peters calls the Washington game “make believe.” The President proclaims new initiatives which are rarely followed up with action. Congress appropriates huge sums, the spending of which is not accounted for in any intelligent sense. The press pretends to be hard-nosed, cynical, and objective but, in fact, is so spoiled by the perks available in Washington that it too is now part of the game. Military officers are more interested in promotions than in defeating the enemy. The important thing to remember is that this is not a conspiracy; it’s just that everyone wants to survive, and so goes along to get along. The only feasible way, Mr. Peters says, to restore some accountability to Washington is, ironically, to return to the system of political patronage. He believes that as many as half of the government’s 2.9 million employees could be politically appointed. The message to the politicians under such a system would be clear: Either your people do a good job, or you will lose yours.