c
Regionalism and "new-federalism" is an idea that Rex Tugwell developed
for decentralization and regional aggrements. The rule should be to do
everything at the lowist possible level. The idea of the U.S.
Constitution was to have independent states. In my fater's day "the
government" was the state - not washington - which didn't do much until
the new deal and the war economy.
"Peter E. Pflaum, Ph.D. Institute for Human Resources (904) 428-9609
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]"
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
TO: Andrew U. Hassman
RE: Regional Reforms
From: Institute for Human Resource
225 Robinson Road New Smyrna Beach
(P.O. Box 2176) FL 32069
(904) 428-9609 Dr. Peter E. Pflaum
July 16, 1994 (Revised December 18, 1994)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
President William Clinton
Vice-President Albert Gore
The White House
1700 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington, D.C. 20001
The ideas about the organization of the national government
as old as the Federalist Papers (Hamilton and Madison) and as new
as November's election with the theories of Newt Gingrich. Three
basic fields come together in a coherent idea of the learning
organization - intelligent government. Psychological ideas of
motivation and intelligence (Maslow, Gardner, H. Frames of Mind);
Learning Theory from John Dewey and R.W. Revans (Origins and
Growth of Action Learning); Group Dynamics from Benis, Argyris,
Peters, (Theory of Leadership); come together in the concept of
the small, flexible, quick, decentralized, informational rich
systems of Deming and Charles Handy, The Age of Unreason). Mancar
Olson Rise & Decline of Nations reminds us of the typical
paradigm of each historic period - the Agricultural estate, mass
production, to Toffler's Third Wave.
It is interesting to recall that for Aristotle the Family
was the model for the state. The order of the household is the
building block of communities. Wilson's social-biology suggests
that the troop and family behavior is hard wired (like language)
and there are deep groves of natural human behavior. Reform must
conform to the character of man and society.
Regionalism as used in this paper is not primarily
interstate compacts but simply the administration of federal
programs. The power to sign off on wavers, grants, federal
transfers from the Reserve Banks to the States; can be in
Washington or in the Federal regional councils. By administrative
action the Regional Directors could have real authority. The
effects of this decentralization are monumental because of the
political culture. Governors working with regional directors
would be a very different power base than a Department Secretary
working with committee chairmen in Washington.
Reforming government (and our central ideas of organizations
of all kinds - business, schools, churches, households) requires
more than minor changes but a radical rethinking of our
governmental arrangements. G.M. took more than a decade to
realize that it had to actually decentralize. Only by really
distributing power to smaller units can any big organization
become quicker and sufficiently responsive to rapidly changing
demands.
Private business go out of business, fail, go bankrupt when
they can no longer meet the demands of the market. Government
cannot go out of business. Governments either reform or have one
form or another of violent revolutions. Ask Tom Paine.
The history of reform is partly driven by the desire to
avoid revolutionary change. There is also an inherent desire for
good government. Good government promotes civic virtues. Belief
in "the System" fosters higher quality citizens and citizenship.
The polis of Athens and the U.S. Constitution tried to nourish
merit for its own sake. The function of government is the
authoritative allocation of value. The legitimacy of government,
as a personal reputation is lightly lost and hard to gain.
Management reforms in business spills over into public
administration. From the belief in scientific management to Z
theory we are believers in one practice or another. The people
of this country want the country to work for them. The Perot
supporters know the system is not working for them and the future
of their children. It would be better to deal with the problem
than wait until it boils over. When a people have experienced a
long period of growth and increasing prosperity, they come to
expect continuous progress.
FDR gave the people hope. Perhaps he saved capitalism from
the capitalist. When times become hard, many blame the
"system." Revolutions have historically arisen from
disappointment with economic growth in societies that have known
long periods of economic growth and social progress. (Colonial
America, France, Latin America, Russia, Cuba, China) We must
reform the system to save it. Two generations before FDR's New
Deal, Otto Von Bismarck created a basic safety net in Imperial
Germany to protect the state from radical change. His health
plan is surprisingly like that proposed for the USA today.
The way to reorganize is the creation of strong regional and
state governments. Smaller is better. Quicker and more
domestic. Fifty years of efforts to reform public education
proves you cannot reform a un-reformable system. Some
institutions become expert in ducking and dodging. They give out
a rhetorical doublespeak but are incapable of any real change.
Fewer and fewer people believe them. Congressional or
educational reforms are oxymoron.
Iatrogenic problems are the results of false cures. The
treatment has made the ailment worse. Political scientist have
argued that the actions that are necessary are not possible under
the current system. The actions that are possible are often
Iatrogenic. Curative actions are not politically possible, while
the political possible does little good and maybe harmful. For
example. the war on drugs causes crime by raising the price of
drugs paid for by robing someone or selling more drugs. Urban
renewal destroys the neighborhood. Aid to families with
dependent children (AFDC) harms the families and creates more
dependent children. Theses are not rare cases but system
problems. The first step in fixing the system is to sort out
what is a system's problem rather than mistakes caused by
individuals or specific laws, rules, or programs. Fix the system
not the blame as Deming argues.
The welfare of the republic is a stake and the well being of
my children. I teach Political Science. The frustration at the
inability of the system to reform itself increases always
expediential. This country was founded on the principle of the
consent of the governed. Let us work together to really
reinvent government before it reinvents us.
So what is to be done? Because we understand the problem of
international competitiveness one can make up a menu of actions
that can help- short run (before 1995) and long run into the
middle of the next century. Let's take a fresh look.
One important first step can be done by executive order. It
is to renew and strengthen the federal regional councils. Men of
stature such as former governors or senators should become
Regional Commissioners. A way to break the iron triangle between
the interest groups, congress and the agencies is by giving power
the regional councils.
A WAY OF FOCUSING PUBLIC EFFORT ON TARGETS AND ACHIEVING
GOALS IS BY DECENTRALIZATION. An important benefit of going
regional is greater Presidential influence. The White House
rarely influences even the EXECUTIVE BRANCH administration in
Washington. The agencies respond first to their support group (
beneficiaries and agents ), then to congressional committees that
give them legislation, money and protect them from outsiders,
then the media and public in general and only a little to the OMB
and White House or Secretary level programs and priorities. They
are foxy fellows that never say no but little happens except
smoke and mirrors.
By executive order the OMB can have the authority to approve
regional plans using programs from dozens of agencies with the
signature of the Federal Regional Council. This was done in
1971-1975 I belief under Fred Malak at OMB. Decisions, money and
power can flow directly from the President to OMB, to ten
regional directors, to programs or visa versa. The councils
verify that all required regulations are meet by the combined
grant (integrated grant administration) and each contribution
from an agency.
For example a billion dollars could be assembled in one
region from highway and other DOT money, airport funds, and labor
and social service money for training, water and conservation,
DOD research, economic development, small business, etc., into a
general project to create smart roads and business in smart cars.
Another region from DOE, DOD, etc for computer and programming
projects. Within existing budgets and legislation a revolution
can take place in government by executive order. It was done
before under Nixon but..that's another story.
First we are too big and too small. Its all too difficult
at the national level. Let's say we had twenty regions in a
community of the Americas (Latin America = 500 million, Ten
regions of 50 million each, 290 in U.S. and Canada, 10 regions
of 29 million each). Each region would have an assembly and
economic development council. (Update on a plan by Rex Tugwell's
plan- Center for the Study of Democracy, Santa Barbara) The core
of the enterprise would be research centers. The idea is the
generation of long term projects and the spin off of small
flexible creative enterprise. Its up to them to develop
strategies for incomes policy, industrial policy, education and
research policy, health, natural resources, and investment
banking.
First, in the 10 federal regions help organize or expand
a research university park complex to develop and spin off small
business and convert defense industries. Ask the advanced
projects agency (DOD), NSF, NASA, the commerce department, labor,
transportation, agriculture, and trade representative to help the
Federal Regional Council develop regional development plans.
High speed transport, optic fiber networks, interactive
communications and direct broadcast, biotechnology, specialized
goods and services.
There is little or no chance a national program of this
kind will be tried or if tried can work. There is a real chance
it can work in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, San Francisco, Boston,
Kansas City, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, or Chicago. Then
they would look outward to export markets and projects around the
world. The big multinational could become part of the solution
rather than part of the problem. The best hope is small and
middle size solutions, for business, job training, education,
health, and physical and social infrastructure.
I wonder how many people are interested in the structural
problems in American Government. This is an issue that has been
around for years without generating much media inter est. There
is, however, no more important issue because other problems can't
be solved within the current system of decision (or non-decision)
making. PROBLEMS:
The founding fathers clearly did not desire democracy. The
theme which runs through the culture of the 18th century both in
Europe and the colonies was a merit. The men of good character
would rule with the consent of the gentlemen to be governed. An
aristocracy of leaders of talent and character not only of birth.
Cincinnatus was the model and free mason lodges the training
ground of civic virtue. Modern political theory has stressed
the idea of the dilemma of democracy where the "system" depends
on the civic minded elites. (Mills, Dye, Wilson, Lipsets, etc.)
The steady deterioration in civic elites that has been the root
cause of the decline of American Civilization as we move out of
the age of mass production.
Since the late 60' s many other nations have been more
successful in the realities of international competition.
America's average increase in productivity lagged behind most
industrial nations. (West Germany, France, Italy and the rest of
the EC, Japan and even Britain) American personal well-being, our
standard of living is now lower than several other countries,
unemployment is higher, life expectancy lower (even thought we
spend much more on health care), levels of pollution are higher,
crime much worse, education poorer, rate of saving and investment
much lowers, and by almost every measure of well-being America's
relative position is declining.
There is a simple reason for the relative decline in our
country. They are organized for economic adaption to changes in
the internat
