Write a 600-700 word update of the “Bureaucracy” article in chapter 4. Note that Pett’s article was written in 1981. Use its style as a model, and select some of the facts that it includes to comment on and update. You should find that recent summaries of the 2000 Census are now available. For example, what is the cost of domestic social programs as a percent of GNP now, compared to 17 percent in 1964 and 25 percent in 1974? How much federal aid goes to municipalities compared to the $88 billion in 1980? How many swineherds do we employ? Can you find the names of any unusual Congressional subcommittees in the manner of the Interdepartmental Screw Thread Committee to add humor? Any more mistakes in payouts that have been spotted by the GAO (General Accounting Office)? How many people are on the federal payroll and how many were fired in a recent year?

Use the links on the course site under Research for starters. You could also look at the Congressional Record or Congressional Quarterly and doing a search on some of these topics. Look for a discussion of government spending in Congressional Researcher (do the best you can with the recentness of updates). And don’t forget to try the congressional publications in our databases (FirstSearch, ProQuest) and look for other articles form the press in Lexis-Nexis and Proquest.

Make note of the analysis of Pett’s article in Chapter 4, and try to use some of the techniques discussed, including some humor, his rhythm and pacing of some sentences and paragraphs (when are they long and rambling, when short and clipped?). You might consider using a comparative fact as the lead (In 1981, ....... . In 2000 ...... . Looks like ...) or Pett’s article as the angle (Saul Pett wrote in 1981 that the parts of the federal government seem to multiply like ...).