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Two Cheers for Bureaucracy
It’s better than the alternative!
Unlike most Americans, I think the DMV is pretty good.
The Department of Motor Vehicles (or Bureau of Motor Vehicles, in some states) has long been caricatured as a bastion of pointless bureaucracy. Its three initials evoke images of long lines, terrible customer service, and ridiculous rules.
But, in my state, at least, the DMV is pretty good. I’ve never had to wait more than a few minutes. If I really want to save time, I can “get in line” online before I show up. Procedures are clear. The workers are generally competent and friendly. Sure, it’s no fun to carve out time to renew your license every four years, but the experience is perfectly fine.
Perhaps my state is an outlier, an unusually impressive paragon of excellence. But I doubt it. I think most of my fellow Americans are primed to hate the DMV because it’s one of the most hated things in American life: a bureaucracy.
Why do Americans loathe bureaucracies like the DMV so much? Part of it is our historic suspicion of government, which dates back to the nation’s founding. Some of it is a more recent turn against institutions and experts. Under both Democratic and Republican administrations, Americans have believed for decades that the government is too big and tries to do too many…
