ABSTRACT
American public administration lurches from crisis to crisis, managing more often by response than by deliberate public administration for the long term. In the life of nations, planning and management horizons may be shortened temporarily. However, if this becomes the dominant governing practice, it compromises performance and the achievement of longer-term aims. Electoral cycles and the pulls across the political spectrum for control of bureaucracy almost ensure that the drama of the moment displaces rational and enduring solutions for a longer horizon. A Gresham’s law of governing cautions that short-term considerations displace long-term aims unless there are structures and processes to resist the tug. It was not always so.
