Bureaucracy Voicethread Photocube

Photo Cube 1) The impossible staircase image reflects the students' belief that in a perfect world, all bureaucratic agencies would be perfectly efficient, yet that is not possible because other problems would arise from making them perfectly efficient (such as huge tax increases).

2) The image of a man walking a "fine line" metaphorically represents the students' belief that there is a difference between government transparency and invasion of privacy. While the public deserves to be informed about things such as where their tax dollars are being spent, it is not practical for the government to make sensitive information regarding the nation's security public (because how could agencies such as the CIA and FBI efficiently operate in that case?) It should be noted that this image does not reflect the most of the students' equally important opinion that a lot of information regarding bureaucracies is available to the public, yet no public interest.

3) The Communist symbol reflects the students' belief that a transition to the more efficient Nordic system would be impossible because many Americans would view such an attempt as an attempt towards communism. The wealthy would loudly protest at the distribution of wealth, and our current national financial situation (e.g. huge debt) wouldn't make an expansion of benefit systems possible.

4) The image of a frustrated man working at a desk reflects the students' perception that many young adults don't want to pursue bureaucratic jobs because of the way they think they operate: boring, with low reward and limited opportunities for advancement.

5) The image of metaphorically cutting the budget shows the students' belief that the current budget does in fact need to be decreased; funding should be based on need and total cost.

6) The map showing the cycle of Republicans and Democrats at the helm of government reflects the students' belief that party politics is inhibiting the efficiency of the bureaucracy.