Administrative Instability and its Consequences

Key Insight

In America, public officials hold power for brief periods before rejoining the populace, which itself is constantly changing. This rapid turnover results in an administrative record that is often scantier than that of an ordinary family. Public administration is largely 'oral and traditional,' with little written down, and what exists is easily lost, akin to 'leaves of the Sibyl' scattered by the wind.

Newspapers serve as the sole historical record in the United States, creating a fragile link between the present and the past. This ephemeral nature means that in fifty years, it may be harder to obtain authentic documents about current American social life than about French administration in the Middle Ages. Such instability has become a habit, almost a 'taste' for the people, leading to a neglect of past methods, archives, and document collection.

This extreme administrative instability hinders the progress of the 'art of administration,' which, like any science, requires the accumulation of discoveries across generations. American administrators struggle to learn from their predecessors, operating with contemporary enlightenment rather than accumulated knowledge. Consequently, democracy, pushed to its extreme, is detrimental to governmental science, making it better suited to a people with complete administrative education rather than novices in state affairs, though paradoxically, democratic government requires a 'very civilized and thoroughly educated society' as its prerequisite.