What gives the bureacracy power? Does the bureaucracy create legislation?

Answer 1

$$$$$ and favors to it's political base.

The Bureaucracy has had an overwhelming influence on past 25 years of legislation and it's content. Every single major issue that is crippling our ability to have a sustainable path of upward mobility among our peoples has been thwarted by the direct interface between Big Business and our Government Branches. Every single piece of new legislation of the Democrat's agenda involves getting some of these policies reversed or changed. 25 years of Conservative Economic philosophy has culminated into the abysmal state of affairs we are experiencing today.

Answer 2

"The bureaucracy" could describe the people in any (large) organization who make it difficult to accomplish anything, because there is so much "red tape" (which is a term that comes from Great Britain's bureaucracy).

Most commonly, bureaucracy refers to people in the various bureaus of the government. In the U.S., this is the Executive Branch (State Department, Treasury Department, Labor, Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Department of Justice, etc., etc.). They do not make laws. That is the job of the Legislative Branch (our elected representatives in the House and Senate ... in Parliament in the UK). What bureaucrats do is IMPLEMENT and ADMINISTER the laws that are passed by the legislators. This includes collecting taxes, making Social Security and Medicare payments, defending the nation, pursuing criminals, etc., etc.

What gives bureaucrats power? The fact that they are assigned to act for the government. If you want something done by the government, it has to be done by a so-called bureaucrat, who may or may not be responsive to your request. To the extent that there are few incentives (such as profits and bonuses) driving bureaucrats to provide good service, they may not provide good service. And in the case we call them bureaucrats and complain about how the government is "such a bureaucracy."

Hope that gives you the idea of what the term means.

Answer 3

The bureaucracy doesn't create legislation. Its job i.e. that of the Civil Service (in the UK) is to implement the legislation created by Parliament.

Its power lies in the fact that government Ministers rely on Civil Service advisors to carry out their work. And who is going to have the most experience and inside knowledge of how a government department works? A Minister who is only going to be in office for a few years, or a Permanent Under-Secretary (highest rank in the British Civil Service) who has possibly been in post for decades?

Have you seen the British TV series, 'Yes Minister'? Very funny and, according to more than one ex-Minister, true to life.