What if we didn't have one another?

Modern government could not function without a large bureaucracy. Through authority, specialization, and rules, bureaucracy provides a means of managing thousands of tasks and employees.

The bureaucracy is expected simultaneously to respond to the direction of partisan officials and to administer programs fairly and competently. These conflicting demands are addressed through a combination of personnel management systems. 

      Personnel Management Systems: the patronage, merit, and executive

Bureaucrats are typically much less visible than the president or members of Congress. 

We also can 'toy' with one another: 

Presidential methods of exercising control over bureaucracies:

• Appointing the right people to head the agency.
• Issuing executive orders.
• Tinkering with an agency's budget.
• Reorganizing an agency.

Measures Congress can take to oversee the bureaucracy:

• Influencing the appointment of agency heads.
• Tinkering with an agency's budget.
• Holding hearings.
• Rewriting the legislation or making it more detailed.