They are also stocked by a professional political class, highly unionized, with a vested interest in the continued expansion of government and the taxes necessary to pay for it. Unlike the private sector, where managers are rewarded for saving money, bureaucrats strive to spend it, so they can make the case for yet more money to spend next year. And as a visit to the DMV will confirm, government bureaucrats get promoted to their highest level of incompetence. Firing an incompetent one, like firing a teacher, is practically impossible. Politicians of both major parties talk a good game when it comes to bureaucracy, but once in power both wind up caving.
Bureaucracies thrive by working in tandem with special interests.
The key to political leverage is to become part of an accredited victim class, championed by high-profile activists and, as the theory goes, unable to survive without assistance from the nanny state. State workers are happy to oblige, thereby expanding their own power and influence. And the media have their role to play. While doing a good job at covering election races, the media remain largely uncritical of bureaucracy and special interests. In areas such as health, welfare, and environmental policy, supposedly skeptical journalists do little more than paraphrase government press releases.