Mike Pence’s 5 rules for effective government

“It is extraordinarily difficult to change bureaucracies and the bureaucrats who work in them. Again and again, we have seen presidents and members of  Congress start out boldly, using big words to dramatically describe big ideas, only to have the ideas disappear in the impenetrable resistance of career bureaucrats. The dense thickets of regulationsthey have cultivated over the last 80 years make management and change virtually impossible.

The resistance of the bureaucracy is reinforced by the tenacious and pervasive lobbying and media campaigns executed by the defenders of the old order. I wrote in my book “Breakout” about “pioneers of the future and prison guards of the past.” Huge corporationsand wealthy special interests that have been dominant and want to avoid change behave precisely like prison guards of the past.

In virtually every sector of federal activity, there are companies and institutions that have lobbyists and apologists who oppose real change.”