This, then, is the problem of democracy and public service in a postindustrial, liberal capitalist society. It is a society in which democracy is equated with equal procedural and personal rights, but not democratic determination of economic property rights. To the extent this situation is at variance with the American ideal of democracy, today we have something of a false democracy. Liberal capitalism and procedural democracy displaced the earlier republican vision (Sandel 1996) as Americans built the professional, bureaucratic, administrative state. Today the trend continues as the public sphere of life is increasingly occupied by the behaviors and values of the individualistic economic market. The effect on public administration is that the ideal public sector is thought to be small in size, efficient, and subservient, while simultaneously providing a broad range of effective, expertly run services. This is paradoxical and frustrating, but not surprising given the political culture associated with liberal capitalist democracy.