Tom Frank Quote of the Day: Brownie's Law

All this week I'll be featuring Tom Frank's new book The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule, [1] which comes out next week and I've had the privilege to read. I'll start out with one of his most stunning finds, "A Plea for Inefficiency in Goverment," , a same-as-it-ever-as masterpiece published in 1928 by the magazine of the Chamber of Commerce. The speaker is Homer Ferguson, a military contractor and former head of the organization:

The best public servant is the worst one. A thoroughly first-rate man in public service is corrosive. He eats holes in our liberties. The better he is and the longer he stays the greater the danger. If he i an enthusiast—a birhgt-eyed madman who is frantic to make this the finiest government in the world—the black plague is a housepet by comparison.

Here was Lyn Nofziger's version of same from 1981: "We have told members of the Cabinet we expect them to help us place people who are competnent. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who supported Reagan is competent."