This is Jeff Berry, introducing another of my chapters, "The Bureaucracy," Chapter 13. It deals with the real engine of government: the agencies that carry out the programs and enforce the laws.

The first argument we make in this chapter is that bureaucracies matter, a simple but profound point. Agencies aren't just handling the details of government--they formulate policy under grants of authority from Congress.

One thing that puzzles Americans is why the national government is so big. Why do we have so many agencies, so many bureaucracies? And why can't we make government smaller?

In this chapter, we address these questions directly. We argue that bureaucracies exist because a problem emerges and some sector of society asks government to resolve it. A new technology, for example, will often create issues that must be addressed. After radio was invented, some means had to be implemented to keep individual stations from crossing over into another station's signal. That need prompted creation of the Federal Communications Commission, an administrative agency given the task of regulating the broadcast industry.

Many lobbies have strong interests in the policies set and enforced by a particular agency. This manifestation of pluralism makes it difficult to shrink the bureaucracy. Everyone seems to agree in the abstract that it would be a good thing to make government smaller, but actually cutting budgets is difficult. Lobbies with a vested interest in what an agency does will fight to protect that agency's budget.

Conservatives claim that government can and should be cut; that it's too intrusive and that a smaller government would be a more efficient government. Liberals believe that government has broad responsibilities and must be robust to accomplish all that it should do. This is one of the most enduring conflicts in our democracy.