The concept of Unelected Bureaucrats is used constantly by the Right to demean government workers. Right-wing commentators tell the public that these individuals are illegally or immorally usurping the power of elected officials. They believe these “unelected” folks are somehow illegitimate or plotting to advance the goals of the deep state.
In their view, these employees are a danger to us all. They must be stopped or fired or punished until they do what the chief executive or Congress wants them to do.
So, it is time to point out how the criticism and the phrase “unelected bureaucrat” makes little sense.
First, the chief executive has little idea what most of these workers do and neither does Congress. Congress makes the laws which provide the mission and general structure for the agencies employing these managers and workers but the details of how these laws are implemented are usually of minimal interest to Congress.
They would have difficulty understanding even a small portion of the work being done and are far too busy or disinterested to learn.
The Congress and the President both delegate authority to various department heads to run government agencies which often contain hundreds and even thousands of employees.
But the right-wing’s idea that all these workers (bureaucrats) should be “elected” is what is really ridiculous.
Does any citizen want to walk into a voting booth and vote for hundreds or thousands of people who they know virtually nothing about?
Choosing between the ten or twelve candidates commonly on ballots in a given election is difficult enough. Go to the NIH website and see the dozens of department heads in only a single government agency.
Does anyone seriously want to choose hundreds of people for different government positions in the voting booth?
The answer is obviously, no. So why does anyone take the “unelected bureaucrat” criticism seriously? The goal of making these employees look immoral and power-crazed does not hold up to even minimal scrutiny.
The next time you read or hear a right-wing commentator or politician accuse government workers of being “unelected bureaucrats”, call him or her out and note that no citizen wants to elect them. There are far too many.
It is up to Congress to redefine their role if they do not like what they are doing by amending the law that created the agency in the first place.
Casting a shadow on government employees by using demeaning phrases to describe them is a classic PR or advertising tactic to demonize those you dislike or compete with - for the right-wing this often means government employees and government in general.
Do not fall for it.
