Realignment, Readjustment, Reform: The Impact of the Ombudsman on American Constitutional and Political Institutions

Abstract

The idea of an Ombudsman has entered American discussion at a time of extraordinarily urgent need for attention to grievance machinery and efficiency-promoting devices in government. This is indicated by the scope and character of present discontents; the increasing contradiction between taxpayer resistance and compelling requirements for governmental spending, especially in state and local government ; and the emergence of many social forces stimulating people to assert their rights in relationship to government. The Ombudsman concept deserves wide trial in America, but, at the national level, probably will need to be modified so that a group of Ombudsmen serve, with their responsibilities divided on the basis of broad functional areas. Grievance machinery already available ought to be strengthened in several respects, including administrative appeals systems, judicial review, legislative case work, and other devices. There is need for increasing the representation of the general consuming public in the administrative process; for greater use of administrative standards and general administrative procedure legislation; and for the adoption of several promising new approaches to grievance-processing. All of these are necessary in order to make governmental response more sensitive, and to allay those pressures for redress which now strike deeply to the heart of American life.