“Representation” by representatives who are ruled by the same people who rule over those who elected them, is not representation at all.

Earlier today I was reminded that a very powerful but much disliked city employee cannot be fired, no matter who is elected to the local city council, because the city council simply does not have the power to fire municipal employees. Ordinary taxpaying voters — myself included — like to kid ourselves when we imagine that electing the right people will solve the evils of government.

It won’t. The unelected bureaucrats who really rule us really are bulletproof.

A government employee speaks:

We spend inordinate amounts of time and money determining who will occupy short-term elected positions in government. Once there, people make a living thinking about what these politicians should be doing. On the other hand, we spend almost no time thinking about who will permanently occupy the bureaucratic positions that are actually responsible for implementing governance.

The vast majority of the employees of the government, like me, are unelected and – for all intents and purposes – cannot be fired. Focusing on the 0.0001% of government employees that get elected (obviously!) misses the remaining 99.9999%. Virtually everyone thinks that its possible to “change” government while maintaining 99.9999% of its employees. This belief is obviously retarded.

I should also note that people are not used to thinking about working environments in which employees cannot be fired. This situation changes the employment dynamic in many ways. Outside of the government, a “boss” is in charge. However, once the power to fire employees is removed, how is it possible for a boss to really be in charge? In a sense, this creates a situation in which the employees are – in reality – in charge.

To call people “employees” when they rule over their “employers” is a perversion of both words.

The whole system sucks beyond belief. It’s a real eye opener to get all involved and enthused about electoral politics only to find out that even when great candidates manage to get elected against all odds, nothing will change. The most that can be done is to slow down the rate of government’s metastatic growth.

Revolutions have been fought over less. Perhaps the bureaucratic rulers should make sure that they have bigger and better guns.

Oh wait…