Rules of the Game: How Government Works and Why it Sometimes Doesn't by Phillip W. Magnus and Paul Weissburg

Authors Phillip W. Magnus and Paul Weissburg's series of lectures titled, The Modern Scholar: Rules of the Game: How Government Works and Why It Sometimes Doesn't, covers the function and disfunction of government from the progressive and neo-liberal (more conservative) perspective.

The authors provide a perspective on different aspects of the U.S. government from the founding to the present day.  I was fascinated by the discussion on the problems and merits of the patronage system in New York.  The current merit based civil service system assumes some level of academic competency for the position.  The patronage system rewarded people based on relationships and allowed individuals from all ranks of society to work in government with respect to affiliation and not competency. This last method allowed for a bit more mobility through different classes of society.  The first method was based on a meritocracy.

The back and forth between the two speakers was respectful and enlightening.  I would highly recommend the lecture series to someone trying to get a better perspective on how our government is actually run and to understand the two major ideologies on US government operations.

Private Sector vs. Public Sector 2 min.