A Case For A Gigantic, Shadowcasting Government

Day 1,162, 11:16 • Published in USA USA • by Blank Keating

For the last few months, I’ve seen a lot of talk about cutting down the size of cabinets. I was even on its side once both indirectly (during CRoy’s campaign) and directly (keeping the DoE a one-trick pony). However, I don’t think it’s a good idea for any President to cut back on cabinet positions, other than ones that have become obsolete because of admin changes or have managed to completely grind to a halt.

Why you ask? I’ll explain my argument in a simple risk/reward format. Here’s the risk: ~nothing. While small government looks cool on paper, almost (if not all) government employees receive a tidy sum of $0 for their work. The only bad thing I can think of is that a lot of open positions might drive hopefuls to “fill their plate” with duties, like one in congress, one in parties, and one in the executive. However, here’s the rewar😛

Retention

When a new player sees a big cabinet with a lot of low and mid-level positions, they think “I can get into this”. When they see a tiny cabinet with a lot of top-level positions filled by people from day 200-300, it creates a feeling of futility. Most people wouldn’t stick around for 3 years to get a secretary gig in this game. The cabinet, like parties, needs to be visible and accessible, or we’re less likely to engage new players in the community.



Retention Again

A lot of executive positions are stressful. The Department of Interior, which I oversaw during the horrid month of December, has six to nine programs, all with bosses, staffs and duties which need to be tracked almost every day. My entire term was basically maintenance: replacing directors for ones that disappeared during finals and holidays, clipping programs that were ruined by admin changes, and constantly trying to update a cabinet that needs coordination and a congress going through a budget overhaul.

I consistently thought about quitting during that term but still hung in there. I had Justin McCravok, the SoI from last term, helping me out, and two deputy secretaries, ligtreb and Dan Heylin. If my department was cut down to one or two people at the helm however, I certainly would’ve gone through with it. Having a big cabinet with secretaries, deputy secretaries and advisors in the upper echelons stops great workers from burning out and quitting forever.

Experience

On the same token, a lot of people who find themselves in power are modest or friendly people. Some are already on the track to becoming President. A structured department with a Secretary, right-hand men, advisors and workers creates a microcosm of the entire executive branch, and forces the player to learn how to delegate work to others.



If a player becomes President without being able to delegate effectively, they will fail and fail hard. In this regard, secretary positions become less of stepping stones on the political path and more like test runs for domestic policy.



That’s my take on the matter. Maybe if someday we start paying cabinet members a salary, we can worry about the size of the government. As long as we’re not though, we only have to worry about becoming so big that nothing gets done, and I wouldn’t say we’re anywhere near that.

TL😉R: (click to enlarge)





Until next time,