Oddbean new post about | logout
 I have no doubt that there are well meaning individuals who work in government, but the system itself is based on lies and the initiation of force.

I don't believe it can be fixed from within itself; I'm persuaded that it must be completely replaced. 
 Most likely. 

There are some departments, like the Department of Education or Energy or HUD, that never served a purpose and should never have existed.  There are some departments, like the FBI, that you could make an argument for a limited version, but they've become so corrupt that they are worse than the criminals they are supposed to stop (not that there aren't some agents that are decent people, but it seems like 100% of management are criminals).  (FYI, I'm not saying I think we should have even a very limited FBI for cross-state crimes, but you can make a logical argument that it is helpful.  Of course if you give them an inch, they always take a mile, so better to just say "NO". )

Those in positions of power will always try to increase their power, but things really got bad when Senators went from representing the states (who also want power so kept the Feds in check) to representing the people (who just want "free" stuff).  It sounds so "nice" to have Senators elected, but it upset the carefully created balance of power.