I agree with you that, of course, there are people and units in government that may be highly skilled and efficient. From what I see, here in Germany, and I think in the United States as well, is that those are the exception and not the rule.
And how could it be otherwise? If your job is safe, and you have a fixed salary, the only way to increase your effective hourly wage is to do less work.
Again, there are people trying to work against the system. A former colleague of mine is a judge at a district court. When he started his position, he made an effort to apply himself fully to each case. For example, in a neighbourhood dispute, he actually went to the place with both parties and personally cut the branch from the tree that had given rise to the dispute. But the pressure is there to get files off the desk. So it’s a race to the bottom.
There are some idealists. But they are fighting an uphill battle, and they are paying a hefty price for not doing what the system wants them to do.
And of course, you could now argue that this is only a problem because government is being starved of the means to do its job properly. But let’s not forget: There was no income tax before the 1910s. And you Americans sank British ships because of what would’ve been an effective total tax burden of less than 5%.
I don’t know what percentage of your work goes to the government in the United States today. Here in Germany it is around 50%. And still, the government feels “starved“. And still it needs the Palantirs of this world to clean up its mess.
And, by the way, this is not just a thing with government. It’s a thing with all monopolies.
You have to have a need to be strong – otherwise you won’t be.