es, thereby making the actions of government fair and predictable.
Whether one accepts the idea that the rules underlying bureaucracy serve to prevent or correct the failings of government or only serve to make the bureaucracy efficient within its own terms, it should be evident that these "rules" are independent of the form of government of which they are a part and instead support a bureaucratic structure adaptable to different governmental forms. Curtailing discretion means curtailing the power of the bureaucracy as it does the power of elected government.
James Q. Wilson goes further as he addresses the prevalence of similar rules in most societies regarding conduct in social groups. He asks how it is that people manage to live together. the normative view is that people learn how to do this from their culture, which gives them an internal compass that guides them to act in ways that minimize conflict and ensure comity. the rationalistic and individualistic view is that people make explicit and implicit agreements based on their own self-interest. Wilson suggests that a version of the normative view is correct:
My argument is that while conflict within societies is ubiquitous and diversity among them obvious, people everywhere have a natural moral sense that is not entirely the product of utility or convention.
Wilson shows indeed that some combination of the normative and rationalistic argument is most likely to be true. An element in the cultural inculcation of people into society is government, and maintaining and encouraging order is a function of government. Whether a society is democratic or totalitarian, it is clear that government is dedicated to maintaining order and is so dedicated at least in part because people tend toward order, having an innate desire to live in an orderly social structure.
Analysts have offered much concern about America's tendency toward divided government. Divided governm...