Government, why can't we just fix it?

Many people have come up with great ideas on how to make government better serve the people over the years (many more have pushed the same crappy ones that fail over and over again, but they never seem to learn). So why is government a bloated, lethargic mass of bureaucracy and waste? Quite simply because in order to be successful in politics, you have to play one group of blind fanatics against the "Other", while not pissing off the mass of people that normally just don't give a damn (but still vote) into lynching you. It has always been this way, and it always will. It's basic human nature.

And unfortunately, most of the people with the truly great ideas are idealists (or just plain cynical, take your pick) who find it very difficult to convince anybody that their plan will work in the long run when these guys over here have a quick fix solution that will only cost us our future (but that's the future, and we'll have come up with a quick fix for that by then). We need to relearn how to balance the short term fixes with the long term solutions, and in doing that we will rediscover how we have made this country great; through personal responsibility, hard work, and dedication, not by throwing our money into a black hole of siphoned funds and false promises.