The Anatomy of Duplication: A State That Devours Itself
The Labyrinth of Inertia
This text is born from an observation as simple as it is devastating: in contemporary Uruguay, the State has ceased to be a tool for progress and has become an end in itself.
We explore the concepts of insanity and deceit not as literary abstractions, but as the real engines of an administration that collects rigorously and squanders enthusiastically.
Insanity, that lack of judgment that leads us to repeat mistakes while expecting different results, is now embedded in the very structure of the State.
As economist Ignacio Munyo has pointed out, we inhabit a system where public agencies are duplicated and triplicated not because citizens demand it, but due to an inertia that no one dares to challenge.
It is the madness of an organism that creates a new organ to cure the inefficiency of the previous one, ultimately suffocating the productive body that sustains it.
But this madness is not innocent. It is sustained by deceit, institutionalized deception.
We are told that high tax pressure is the unavoidable price of social peace and public policies.
However, modern analytics and artificial intelligence have lifted the veil. A large portion of what the State takes does not translate into well-being, but into financing a redundant bureaucracy.
The deception lies in making us believe that “social spending” is sacred, when in reality an alarming portion of that spending is consumed by administrative tolls before reaching its destination.
This is not merely a critique. It is a map for exit.
Inspired by efficiency-driven models adopted by countries that chose to stop lying to themselves, such as Estonia or New Zealand, we propose the need for state-level microsurgery.
This is not about cutting services, but about removing the fat that prevents the muscle from functioning.
At the end of the road, the question is ethical. How long will we allow waste to be the norm?
We invite the reader to awaken from the lethargy of deception and to demand a social contract where what is collected finally bears an honest relationship to what is delivered.
Truth is the first step toward curing the insanity of a State that, in trying to embrace everything, risks sustaining nothing.
CHAPTER I
During a 2009 campaign event, Luis Alberto Lacalle Herrera referred to the Frente Amplio’s social policies and promised to apply a “chainsaw, firm and hard, to old structures and what is disguised as progressivism.”
After political backlash accusing him of planning to cut assistance to the poor, he clarified: “That is a distortion, a clever manipulation that worked.”
“I am not stupid enough to say I will cut social spending. For me, funds allocated to social areas are not expenses, they are investments.”
“What moderately intelligent politician, and I consider myself intelligent, would say he is going to cut housing or poverty programs?”
“But the damage was done. I lost in terms of image, and those who twisted my words, with the help of the press, won.”
Later, during a presentation at the Marketing Executives Association, his son, Lacalle Pou, chose to distance himself from the metaphor and stated that he had sold the “chainsaw” and bought “fertilizer.”
He framed his political approach as a positive one, assuring that “David ends up beating Goliath,” in reference to Tabaré Vázquez, and emphasizing a campaign focused on “tearing down mental walls.”
That economic debate continues to define elections between those who expand an already suffocating State and disguise it, and those who would apply either a “chainsaw” or “fertilizer.”
Today, this is a first-order academic and political discussion worldwide.
We had it here, and the majority chose to keep inflating the State, sacrificing those who pay for the “party,” which ultimately becomes a tragedy for everyone.
One of the key findings of CERES analyses under Ignacio Munyo’s leadership is the existence of a “mirror State.”
It is not simply that the State is large. It is redundant.
Administrative abuse emerges when institutional design loses sight of its final objective and focuses instead on bureaucratic self-preservation.
Fragmentation as a driver of spending
The CERES study reveals that the Uruguayan State operates under extreme fragmentation.
Critical functions such as support for entrepreneurs or early childhood care are scattered across more than a dozen different agencies.
Each has its own management structure, human resources department, vehicle fleet, and procurement system.
This duplication is not only inefficient. It is a form of deceit toward taxpayers.
Citizens are told that budgets allocated to “social policies” are untouchable, yet data shows that a disproportionate share of those funds remains trapped in bureaucratic toll booths before reaching the field.
When three offices in different ministries do the same job, citizens pay three times for a result that is often null due to lack of coordination and diluted resources.
The cost of inertia
Munyo highlights that the national budget is discussed incrementally.
Every five years, politicians debate over one or two percent of new spending, while the remaining ninety-eight percent, inertial spending, is taken for granted.
It is within that ninety-eight percent that waste resides.
Agencies created to address problems from thirty years ago remain alive, consuming resources and collecting taxes simply because no one has had the political will to close or merge them.
We will examine this in detail in the next article.