Parkinson’s Law is of course that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. Corollaries of this include that’s why you should always ask a busy person to do the task for you.
Parkinson also had much to say about bureaucracies, but not quite this point:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Government expands to fill the pool of the governing class who need it. Rob, in comments. [/perfectpullquote]We might slightly alter that to:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Government expands to employ the pool of the governing class who need it.[/perfectpullquote]There is no other explanation for much of what government does than that.
Bonfire of the Tristan and Jocasta’s would be good.