the paradox of simultaneous public demands for both improved efficiency and responsiveness in the public sector, which, at first blush, might not appear to be a conflict of demands. In the contemporary period, however, the public tends to interpret efficiency in government as lower costs and lower taxes, while public tends to evaluate the responsiveness of public organizations in terms how well interest group demands are met. The effective public administrator in contemporary American society, thus, must somehow find ways to satisfy both sets of demands.
By way of illustration, consider the interaction of such conflicting demands in relation to the behavior of American farmers and ranchers during the summer of 1988. The agricultural sector, in general, in the late-1980s advocated less government spending on most domestic programs, and less bureaucratic interference in the operation of the country's farms and ranches. Farmers and ranchers welcomed reductions in federal income tax rates. When the rains failed to arrive in the spring and summer of 1
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