the Daily Whale - 21 April 1991

Newton's Laws of Bureaucracy

1. A bureaucracy at rest remains at rest. A bureaucracy implementing uniform policies continues to implement more complex policies, until the policies become meaningless. The bureaucracy is then said to be at rest.

2. One bureaucracy may apply a force to a second bureaucracy. The affected bureaucracy continues as before, though it may expand its jurisdiction.

3. For every individual action there is an equal and opposite bureaucratic inaction.

the Daily Whale copyright 1991, 2001 Jay J.P. Scott <jay@satirist.org>