For the six years of the Obama presidency, or perhaps the last 35 years since Ronald Reagan’s election, American politics has been dominated by a debate on the size and role of the federal government. This argument, while intense and consequential, has often lacked one element: actual knowledge about the size and role of the federal government.
Into this gap, political scientist John DiIulio has thrown a slim volume titled “Bring Back the Bureaucrats.” It is a reproof to everyone who hates government or loves government without understanding what it does — which covers most of the American ideological spectrum.
DiIulio describes two, seemingly contradictory trends. Since the 1960s, federal spending has increased by more than five times in real terms. But the number of federal bureaucrats in 2014 was smaller than at any time since Dwight Eisenhower was in office. The federal workforce (excluding the U.S. Postal Service) has essentially hovered around 2 million since just after World War II.