Parkinson's Law

This underlined portion is from Wikipedia about Parkinson's Law.-

First articulated by Cyril Northcote Parkinson as part of the first sentence of a humorous essay published in The Economist in 1955,.^[1][2] it was later reprinted together with other essays in the book Parkinson's Law: The Pursuit of Progress (London, John Murray, 1958). He derived the dictum from his extensive experience in the British Civil Service.

The current form of the law is not that which Parkinson refers to by that name in the article. Rather, he assigns to the term a mathematical equation describing the rate at which bureaucracies expand over time. Much of the essay is dedicated to a summary of purportedly scientific observations supporting his law, such as the increase in the number of employees at the Colonial Office while Great Britain's overseas empire declined (indeed, he shows that the Colonial Office had its greatest number of staff at the point when it was folded into the Foreign Office because of a lack of colonies to administer). He explains this growth by two forces: (1) "An official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals" and (2) "Officials make work for each other." He notes in particular that the total of those employed inside a bureaucracy rose by 5–7% per year "irrespective of any variation in the amount of work (if any) to be done".

Have you ever noticed anything the government does that fits Parkinson's Law?   I noticed my city's youth center as an example of Parkinson's Law.   Before the youth center was built I can imagine the city's Parks and Recreation director sitting around and thinking if she could get the city to build a youth center she could hire more employees and thus build her empire.   Thus she convinces the city that a youth center is needed with a skateboard park.   The mothers who have a difficult teen thinks it is a great idea to confiscate other people's money in order to build a youth center where her rebellious daughter can hang out and be the city's responsibility.

The people think this is for "the greater good", most often a front to control others.   The mother wants her daughter to use the center a few hours per month will invest very few dollars in the center but will get a greater return.   Those who have no children using the center will invest money but will not use the center and thus receive a lesser return.  

Another example of Parkinson's Law at work is in the government schools.   In 1950 the government schools had about 18 students per employee.   In 2008 that ratio changed to about only 7 students per government employee.   The government education bureaucracy found a lot of work to fill the time available, thus requiring more bureaucrats, which means more power for the bureaucracy when election time rolls around.

The problem with socialism is people think these projects can only be done by the state.   They never stop to think that if there is a need for the youth center that a private business will provide one, just like a private business provides gyms and grocery stores.   If the government had always provided grocery stores and someone suggested the stores should be privatized there would be a panic.   The public would be afraid the business people owning private food stores would sell you spoiled food. Such is the emotions of humans.    As Jefferson said, "The natural process of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain."   This will change, but only when humans have artificial intelligence and the ability to make rational decisions instead of decisions based on emotions.

Charles Tolleson, Rationalist