Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.
Father Orthoduck wishes to express a great deal of appreciation for the work of Jerry Pournelle. He does not agree with many of his political views, but Mr. Pournelle has a very hard-headed common sense approach to life. He is best known as a science fiction writer, particularly the Co-Dominium series and his works on military science fiction as exemplified in his Falkenberg’s Legion books.
However, Father Orthoduck thinks that most of us can agree with the above paragraph.
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