Indeed, however, I think there are similar examples going back much further. Roosevelt had his own methods of dealing with those he found impeding his programs, his VP of 1944 was tossed aside for Truman. Madison and Jefferson both had their own battles with opposite philosophy's and the New England states actually supported the British, or at least tried to strangle the union financially to support their own aims. The growth of the bureaucracy starting in the 30's led to the whole "government worker" caste that seems to now be able to switch hats a a moments notice and apply the leaderships retribution on the losers. In all cases, it is force inflicted on individuals by a government entity.

In the short term Nick, it truly is of no consequence to them, and short term is as far as their myopic world view allows the to see. Government in general is completely different from us in that we care what we do today because we want to make things at least a little better for our successors. That thought is completely alien to politicians and bureaucrats, despite their rhetoric; they think only as far as their next meal.

DOE governed us, at the manhattan project site y12, and when
the election was over, the whole organization rapidly aligned
with the new regime. . change out the head few and the rest conform.
that's my experience. . political appointees at the top control it all. -- j
.

It's never been as corrupt as it is now, that's for sure. It's almost like there are no honest politicians what so ever. We may need to stop paying them to serve us. I wonder if Hillary would want the job if it didn't pay anything at all. But I also think Mitt would have done it for nothing. He should have used that as his campaign message.

Why are non-profits good, religions included?

Paging Juan and Eva Peron :- ))

Congress can't legislate Federal hiring practices easily, as both Democrat and Republican representatives have discovered. Unions and lobbyists unashamedly threaten withdrawal of support, and activist media set out to destroy a politician who attempts to make "radical" changes.

Dan Goldin, who had popular support from both Democrat and Republican sides of Congress as the new NASA administrator who could put new spirit back into that agency, failed. His failure wasn't because of lack of ability or leadership, but because that agency had built unassailable support for the numerous fiefdoms (Houston, Huntsville, e.g.) in the NASA kingdom. All the entrenched mandarins had to do was scream to local media about how Goldin was going to destroy jobs in their area, and the Representatives and Senators of those municipalities/states put up barriers to all of his proposals to streamline the agency.

Historians tell us that one of the biggest mistakes China made was to cease its world exploration in the 15th century and withdraw, isolating itself at a point when it was a superpower. The mandarins, China's bureaucratic administrative "shadow kingdom", caused that grievous error, and the U.S. is becoming a victim of that same kind of creation.