tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1573015459789360915.post6512703692341408168..comments2024-01-02T23:22:21.430-05:00Comments on The Guild Review: Bureaucracy: Isn't It Strange?Aaron Lindermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15992073027586818751noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1573015459789360915.post-1492311914576876632011-02-18T12:13:07.724-05:002011-02-18T12:13:07.724-05:00Even in early America, things were different. I d...Even in early America, things were different. I don't have the figures in front of me, but as late as the end of the 19th century, the size of the federal government was laughable: the military and post office aside, I think it was counted in the hundreds. In such a world, even if there were papers and offices, individual men had to be men of much greater action and wisdom.<br /><br />On a related note, I read a description from the 19th century of what an ambassador should do: communicate with the foreign government to which he was accredited, encourage trade, collect information of military value, distribute propaganda, run guns... Put simply, he was expected to combine the functions of the modern State Department, Commerce Department, Trade Representative, CIA, USAID, USIA (now defunct) and more. As late as 1940 (a year I'm currently reading about) this was still largely the case.Aaron Lindermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15992073027586818751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1573015459789360915.post-12205847479016386942011-02-17T12:25:38.648-05:002011-02-17T12:25:38.648-05:00I looked mainly at kings, but queens deserve atten...I looked mainly at kings, but queens deserve attention as well. Were medieval queens different than female presidents and prime ministers?Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10825489013036249581noreply@blogger.com