How does the ideal of an “skilled, merit-based, independent” civil service compare with the reality?
In the real world, government bureaucrats are not impartial, highly moral supermen, but human beings with prejudices, biases, and personal agendas like anyone else. What the current system allows is for these individuals, once they get into power, to essentially have carte blanche to push their own agendas and ideologies forward while the law shields them from being fired even as they sabotage the work of elected representatives.
And that gets to the heart of why the “civil service” system is not as glorious as its proponents would like us to believe. While it sounds nice in theory, it actually undermines the intent of the republican system the founders envisioned: a representative system of elections in which the actions of office-holders are supposed to reflect the will of the people. Read more…
