Listening to Miranda Devine’s podcast interview with Doug Burgham, Trump’s Secretary of the Interior overnight and he has the most incredible story.
While listening it occurred to me that with all its problems, Burgham’s story highlights why the American system (with a few caveats perhaps) is superior to our Westminster parliamentary democracy.
What do I mean?
In Australia the prime minister, like the president selects his ministers/secretaries to head up the portfolios and “run” the bureaucracy for that department.
The truth is they don’t so much as run it as they’re swept along in it and by events and bureaucratic advice.
Yes Minister was a guidebook. A manual of how it really works.
The difference is that the prime minister only has a very shallow pool of partyroom politicians from his own party from which to choose.
Some ok are but usually time serving, mediocrities and hacks who know nothing or very little about the task and are at the mercy of the career bureaucrats.
Think, Chris Bowen.
Bowen is the minister for keeping the lights on because he is the epitome of the time serving mediocrity he got there for reasons other than ability.
In America Bowen wouldn’t make dog catcher in Bum Crack Indiana.
Under the American system, the president has a bench that is as broad and as deep as the entire country and able to pick the best of the best from all walks of life and who bring real world experience from outside the DC or the Canberra bubble. The president is not limited to popular but incompetant political drones in the party room and who just got a few my votes than the other guy in the most recent election. People who have a demonstrated interest or capacity and who maybe well experienced in their field. People who haven’t been captured and held hostage and can’t be snowed by the bureaucracy.
Therein lies the difference.