Ezekiel Emanuel claims that “Reconciliation Offers a Shot at Simpler Government” (op-ed, Oct. 8) and then describes three ways to simplify federal programs through the reconciliation bill. My government-simplification plan is even more basic: Kill the reconciliation bill.

I cannot envision a scenario in which passing a multitrillion dollar bill with an array of new entitlements would make government simpler. The first step to simpler government is less government, not more.

Dana...

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, Sept. 18.

Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

Ezekiel Emanuel claims that “Reconciliation Offers a Shot at Simpler Government” (op-ed, Oct. 8) and then describes three ways to simplify federal programs through the reconciliation bill. My government-simplification plan is even more basic: Kill the reconciliation bill.

I cannot envision a scenario in which passing a multitrillion dollar bill with an array of new entitlements would make government simpler. The first step to simpler government is less government, not more.

Dana R. Hermanson

Marietta, Ga.

Prof. Emanuel doesn’t seem to understand why regulations for government programs are so many and so complex. This problem is caused by the unwritten rules of a government (or most any) bureaucracy: Its primary purpose is to maintain the bureaucracy, and its secondary purpose is to expand the bureaucracy’s purview and increase its number of employees. Serving the appropriate function for which it was created comes third.

The first two rules provide for a degree of control, which in its initial enactment can be beneficial, as well as the need for staff members to be so busy that more must be hired. The result is a continual search for tasks that can justify expanding the area or increasing the degree of control. That is the cause of many more regulations than are necessary, and more complexity within each regulation to deal with every conceivable situation. Unanticipated situations arise anyway, and thus more complexity ensues as revisions are enacted continually.

Mr. Emanuel’s recommendation, a “simplification commission,” would simply create another bureaucracy to debate the existing bureaucracies. Simplifying or eliminating a substantial number of regulations would mean that fewer government employees and departments would be needed. I suspect that the leaders of many government bureaucracies are far too skilled to let this happen.

Ellery Block

Westerville, Ohio

The irony of reading a lecture from Prof. Zeke Emanuel on how Congress might limit complexity in future legislation is nearly as thick as the pages of legislation and regulations that comprise the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The best chance of achieving Mr. Emanuel’s stated goals would instead be for Congress to craft and approve only a minimum of well-written legislation that is clearly stated, narrowly focused and not reliant on thousands of pages of yet-to-be drafted administrative regulations from unaccountable federal bureaucrats.

Scott Townsend

Goshen, Ky.