Have you ever wondered how effect a government program is? Is it really worth the cost? Well there is only one way to figure that out. The way to do it is to measure how successful it is.
How it works: The idea is simple, set up some criteria that would judge success of a given program or programs. Then follow that with a system to measure each program such as how many people on a welfare program get out of poverty. From there you are set. By using the information gathered, the politicians and the public can see how well a particular program functions.
The Criteria: When establishing the criteria of success, you have to ensure that it measures the intended goal like people getting out of welfare, or if a law enforcement program is effective in maintaining order. Without these criteria the measurement system fails. In addition, each program must be subject to the same measurement system if they fall into the same categories, such as welfare with welfare programs, job program with job programs and so on and so forth. This would establish a basis from which the politicians can compare and contrast the varying programs accurately. Why compare and contrast them? Simple, comparing and contrasting allows for us all to see how effective a program is in comparison to another. If the other program is more successful at doing the same job, then you would keep the good more effective program and terminate the bad one. Of course, those in the bad program would be funneled into the effective program.
Conclusion: A simple change such as this can change a how an entire government works. It would aid in reducing redundancies and insuring that only the worthy programs work. We, the people do not want or need programs that waste our tax dollars, nor do we want a failing program to possibly compound a given problem (some forms of welfare create even more poor). It is time we implement in government a system that measures every aspect of a government programs and agencies success and failure rate for with it, we can surly be one step closer to stopping, and reducing government waste.
I take this concept from Jim Manzi, The head of Applied Predictive Technologies, contributing editor to the "National Review", member of the Manhattan Institute (a conservative think tank, and the place where I met him), and a corporate strategy consultant with Strategic Planning Associates and a staff member at AT&T Laboratories as well as a number of corporate non-profits.
I also take from his book:
Manzi, Jim. Uncontrolled: The Surprising Payoff of Trial-and-Error for Business, Politics and Society Basic books,
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