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As a student of government looking back on the 1970, it appears as if there was a
transition of the public sector from a do anything at any cost great society affluence era at
the beginning of the decade to a do more with less era of limits, at the approach of the
1980. Government role as great overseer grew greatly during the Great Society era of the
1960. Intergovernmental aid (in the form of block and categorical grants) and Headstart
are examples of programs administered by the give all generation of bureaucracies and
legislators.
The Regan revolution brought major reductions in federal domestic spending, including
additional cuts in financial assistance to the states. President Regan hiring freezes and
shifts in funding priorities were undoubtedly intended to reduce waste, improve
productivity, and decrease aid for programs.1 Before the shifts, it was commonplace that
government was recession-proof employment. Those fortunate enough to go work for a
government entity, once past the probationary period, could count on employment for life.
While others in the private sector may have found themselves facing layoffs, government
employees were busy greeting new co-workers. In fact, in many jurisdictions,
governmental payrolls were growing as those in the private sector were shrinking. This
employment largesse came to an end during the 1980 when the federal government began
to step back from its increasing financial involvement in urban and local areas. Regan
began to mandate programs for states to implement without allocating the funds necessary
for implementation. Coupled with an economy which saw an increase in unemployment
resulting in a reduced tax base, governmental agencies began to experience massive
revenue and cost dilemmas.
Reganomics was a political period characterized by growth, slowdown, zero growth, and
absolute decline all at the same time. It sparked bitter conflict by decreasing the prospects
for innovation by consensus and complicated the process for building and maintaining a
support for administrative systems and democratic processes. Nothing is more
symptomatic of this conflict than the successes of Proposition 13 in California. As a result
of increased resource scarcity, citizens wanted to trace their own well-being as individual
tax payers to specific government services, to alleviate the impact of inflation on their
personal disposable incomes, and backlash against the salary increases of unionized public
workers and the services offered to the poor minorities.
During the mid to late 1990 the United States witnessed the largest economic boom in
America in the last forty years. A new catch word for government programs emerged,
