I think pretty much everyone acknowledges the cruft. They are always, for example, paying lip service to ending waste and corruption. But for all of their speechifying, nothing of note has ever been done in my lifetime[1].
The fact is that it's damned near impossible to build anything in America today, whether that's physical building or organizations. There is just too much vested interest, regulation, and unwillingness to just try something for fear of making a mistake (no politician can ever admit "I was wrong").
[1]actually, I guess I'm exaggerating. I can think of one significant thing: Clinton's changes to welfare. But the fact that there's only the one thing kinda underscores how vivid this is.
He actually reduced spending, improved efficiency and in general streamlined the system. But weirdly, no republican (or most other people, really) ever mentions this actually effective approach, possibly because it would completely undermine the myth of republican "fiscal conservatism"
But this part here I think gets to my overall point:
> They are always, for example, paying lip service to ending waste and corruption
A pattern I've noticed over and over in my life at this point is the vague promises to Combat Evil are almost always used by frankly bad people who don't deserve the power they're asking for.
Combatting evil is of course a good thing, that's inherent in the definition, but someone who is actually capable of doing so is also capable of telling you how they're going to do it.
Compare e.g. clinton's campaign platform with dozens of specific ideas and plans in a document to trump's random blathering.
> The fact is that it's damned near impossible to build anything in America today, whether that's physical building or organizations.
This meme is incredibly frustrating but I've never been able to really articulate why. I think it's because the extreme, absolutist nature of the idea promotes equally extreme "solutions" which range from impractical to basically evil.
There's a new road being built a mile from my house as I type this. Is it being done particularly quickly? I have no idea, I don't know what constraints they're laboring under. Could it be faster? Almost certainly, but that's not going to be accomplished by some kind of extreme overthrow of the existing system.
SpaceX managed to build and launch literally rockets into space, and that's overcoming the handicap of elon musk! What exactly is impossible about building things in america?
Democrats and Republicans alike all agree that Clinton became much more conservative in his second term. Nobody acknowledges it because it paled in comparison to the circus that was his impeachment trial.
> The National Performance Review was created by President Bill Clinton on March 3, 1993. He appointed Vice President Al Gore as its leader. The President gave the review a 6-month deadline -- report results to him by September 7, 1993.
The fact is that it's damned near impossible to build anything in America today, whether that's physical building or organizations. There is just too much vested interest, regulation, and unwillingness to just try something for fear of making a mistake (no politician can ever admit "I was wrong").
[1]actually, I guess I'm exaggerating. I can think of one significant thing: Clinton's changes to welfare. But the fact that there's only the one thing kinda underscores how vivid this is.