Government Bureaucracy at Work

Government Bureaucracy at Work

By Matthew Edward Hayward on Monday, October 8, 2012

This morning while waiting for my boss to show up and tell us what the plan for the week is, my co-worker and I made a list of things we need around the shop. Mostly items like hand soap, trash bags, extra.

In past years I was given authority to make small purchases like this myself, not anymore. Now because of the new guidelines I am being asked to follow, my co-worker and I first went and talked with the procurement officer, then spent the rest of the day researching information on the products, talking with our boss and his boss, only to finish the day by sending an email back to the procurement officer with an itemized list of products we need and where we found them.

At the end of the day we still don’t have any of the things we needed and in order to save a few cents on a couple of products a full days wages of several employees were spent. We are really nipping fraud and waste in the butt aren’t we? Instead of dealing with specific instances of abuse and over spending, we have created a system that guarantees inefficacy and waste.

Comments

How the Drug War Killed Liberty

By Matthew Hayward 10/25/2025 When the State Declares War on Behavior Earlier this month, President Trump ordered United States military strikes off the coast of Venezuela, killing alleged “narcoterrorists.” He later boasted, “ We’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. ” Those words should chill every American who believes in liberty. Fifty years after Nixon declared his war on drugs, it has evolved from domestic raids to international executions, all under the same failed philosophy that government violence can cure human vice. When the state declares war on human behavior, it always loses and takes the people down with it. Every prison cell, every overdose, every cartel bullet is a monument to the arrogance of government trying to legislate morality. Back in 1988, Ron Paul said it best on The Morton Downey Jr. Show: “You can’t legislate morality. You can’t force people to be better by passing laws. If you want to solve moral and social problems, y...

When Government Demands Papers We Refuse

By Matthew Hayward 9/19/2025 The Supreme Court just paused a lower court order that had limited federal immigration stops in Los Angeles. That stay lets federal agents resume roving patrols and interior operations that critics say rely on appearance, language, job, or neighborhood to pick people for questioning. This matters because it normalizes a posture of suspicion. Checkpoints miles inland and roving patrols turn movement inside the country into a condition to be earned rather than a freedom to be enjoyed. The government already claims expanded authority inside the 100-mile border zone. That claim, plus an open green light for stops based on appearance, is a recipe for arbitrary enforcement. Philosophy of resistance John Locke told us that the consent of the governed is the foundation of legitimate power. When rulers invade life, liberty, or property, or when they become arbitrary disposers of people’s lives and fortunes, the social compact is dissolve...

The Quiet Surrender of Liberty

By Matthew Hayward The slow poison of complacency is the death of the fighting spirit. History is filled with examples of once-free people who gradually surrendered their liberty, not in a single stroke but through a series of quiet concessions. Tyranny often doesn’t arrive with the sound of thunder; it creeps in like a thief in the night, taking advantage of human complacency. The most maddening aspect of this process is not the power-hungry forces behind it, it is the passive, apathetic acceptance by the very people it seeks to control. Complacency is the death knell of liberty. It dulls the senses, erodes vigilance, and normalizes oppression over time. What once sparked outrage and resistance becomes routine, accepted as the new normal. The body scanners at TSA checkpoints, the Patriot Act, the ever-expanding surveillance state, each started with public protests and fiery debates. Now, these violations of privacy and freedom are woven into the fabric of everyday life. Why do pe...

Search This Blog