Perhaps the addition of a discussion of Jerry Pournelle s Iron Law of Bureaucracy will provide sufficient amplification of the typical American attitude toward this institution to account for the negative connotation almost universally accorded the concept of bureaucracy in American culture in which the bureaucratic imperative however it manifests is utterly despised Indeed Pournelle s relatively dispassionate criticism of bureaucracy may not go far enough to accurately convey the pure hatred held by the average American for bureaucrats and everything having to do with the institution of bureaucracy in both the private and the public sectors It does not for example address the bureacrat s propensity for sloughing responsibility There s a reason bureaucrats are seen as ass coverers whose foremost priority is to ensure that they re never accountable for anything It s because many bureaucrats really are ass coverers whose overriding priority is to ensure that they re never accountable for anything As a corollary if things go wrong support for the idea that you predicted it may be helpful in building your bureaucracy s importance at the expense of its rivals This is as true within corporations as it is in the public sector or the military If you ve spent much time in the working world you ve seen this tendency in action which is in American eyes particularly despicable for its abject cowardice as well as its wastefulness ineffectiveness and inherently obstructionist effects Hm And while we re at it how come we re not discussing the sheer Vogosity of bureaucracy This attitude toward the bureaucrats doesn t really seem to be an exclusively American peculiarity at all does it