What is the Washington Monument Syndrome

The Washington Monument syndrome is an interesting fact pertaining to government budget cuts. When a government agency is threatened with budget cuts they always cut the thing the public considers to be most important. This way the public demands that the government agency’s budget be restored, because they want the thing that was cut. This plays right into the government agency’s hands; now their budget won’t get cut. Government agencies should economize and cut inefficient bureaucrats, but they won’t. They will do whatever it takes to keep their budget as high as possible. There are many real-world examples of this.

One time the Department of Interior was told it had to make budget cuts. Therefore, they decided to close the Washington Monument to tourists. The public demanded that their budget be restored, so that the monument would be reopened. To no ones surprise, their budget was restored and they didn’t have to worry about cutting it. What they should have done was fire some pencil pushing bureaucrats. This classic example is where the Washington Monument syndrome gets its name.

Another example of the Washington Monument syndrome is when the military was threatened with budget cuts. During the Cold War the U.S. military maintained a defensive line against attack by Russia through Germany. The front line was a cavalry regiment with fast moving vehicles and good radio interception equipment. They were there to give the first warning of attack. The U.S. military also had many marching bands for parades held in Europe. Whenever they were threatened with budget cuts the first thing to be suggested was the cavalry regiment. For some reason, no one considered cutting some marching bands instead. Clearly, the U.S. military didn’t want their budget cut, so they suggested the most important thing to be cut. The Washington Monument syndrome is yet another example of the glaring problems and inefficiencies with government.