| Not only that, it's what people entering government plan to do. I had a conversation with a lead researcher at a pharmaceutical company (also a friend) where she discussed her plans to work at the FDA for a few years and then return to private industry. She was very explicit about her reasoning: companies pay a premium for researchers with FDA experience because such people are more adept at navigating funding and approval processes. When I asked whether she considered that she would be participating in a corrupting (if not corrupt) process, she simply waved the notion away--this is how it works and what you need to do to advance your career. This person leans very liberal from a social and political perspective. This is where we're at as a society. The machinery of the administrative state is consuming everything in its path. I'm not anti-government or anti-regulation. But the centralization of power is extremely problematic; not just conceptually, but literally. Once upon a time the Federal government had an explicit (if informal) policy of placing administrative offices across the country. This was, I believe, largely a matter of sharing the employment opportunities across the states. But it also had the effect of disincentivizing government work for highly ambitious people. (Moving to D.C. is far easier to justify than moving to Oklahoma City.) These administrative offices are increasingly centralized geographically around D.C. This has attracted industry. The phenomenon is one example of many that has promoted corrupting processes such as the revolving door between regulators and industry. On the bright side, it means there are very concrete countermeasures that we could begin instituting. For example, instate an explicit, formal policy of locating administrative agencies--especially executive offices--far outside the Beltway. Yes, this will be costly in terms of administrative efficiency. But safeguarding democratic institutions is costly; if we're not prepared to pay the price then we deserve what we get. |