Bureaucracy

American government has trended further towards complete bureaucratic management over the past fifty years. Abraham Lincoln started down the path of centralization in the mid nineteenth century, paving the way for a fully centralized bureaucracy. The Progressive movement, in its fervor to organize society in a better way, gained momentum in the twentieth century. Later national figures, from Franklin Roosevelt to Dwight Eisenhouwer, all contributed to the growth in one way or another.

Bureaucracy is not inherently an evil. It is simply a method of management, and is properly suited to many tasks where strict adherence to rules is necessary, like law enforcement. The great danger in a centralized bureaucracy is its application to areas where it is not suited, such as the economy or education. 

Bureaucratic management involves a systematic methodology, with no oppportunity for deviation from an already established order. Real progress requires liberty, not constraints.

[For further reading, see Bureaucracy by Ludwig von Mises.]