Understanding the Bureaucracy: America's Unofficial Fourth Branch

The United States of America is an ever growing country with thousands of contrasting views that all want to be heard, policies to be made, and laws to be kept. For one person to hold all of this power would be absurd and next to impossible. That is why there is a checks and balances system which helps evenly distribute the power between the three branches of government. But what about the extensive unofficial fourth branch that George Washington created to aide the President? The Bureaucracy is a slow and seemingly unnecessary addition to our governmental system, but it does have an important role. The Bureaucracy was originally created to aide the president, and consisted of four people (first cabinet). These members were called the Department

So like Congress, the Bureaucracy is designed to be slow and stagnant. The slowness ensures that all possibilities of negative and positive outcomes are factored in and that the final product reflects what the American citizens truly want. The slowness of the process can lead to the mediocre and sometimes negative view that many Americans have of the Bureaucracy. There are many agencies that contribute to the Bureaucracy, and each agency works for their own purposes of bettering some aspect of the US. Many Americans think that speed is the most important thing when it comes to solving issues, but diligence and care need to be a priority. With such a large number of people involved with the Bureaucracy, it is not difficult for one member to be corrupted and influence others. People are people and sadly greed is a strong influence, along with personal beliefs. But the efficiency of the Bureaucracy is just as easily affected by these aspects as Congress and the Senate

This is because the members of the Bureaucracy are appointed, not elected. There is an understandable reason for the citizens who despise this undemocratic way, but the electoral college is not voted on by the people and it functions just as successfully. There is a possibility of further corruption due to the selection process. The American citizens cannot act as a wall between corrupted officials and their offices, which could allow an agency that deals with regulating things such as health and safety to slack off or make contradictory decisions. However, there is a way to keep this in check which is by having the committees in Congress keep track of the agency’s agenda and to hold hearings on agency abuse if need be. There is plenty of frustration to be heard of from the American citizens, but the government was designed to be slow and inefficient, so that all policies are made fairly and citizens can maintain their freedoms. The Bureaucracy is just an informal fourth branch of the government that serves as another check on the powers of each branch. There are many pros and cons to the current situation that the government has found itself in, but the Framers knew that rash decisions could and would be made, and this was their way of keeping