The amount of taxes we pay for government services doesn't match the quality of service we receive. Like teacher tenure, civil service is the biggest barrier to government streamlining.
Unless candidates for elected office are independently wealthy, they need to raise money to finance their campaign. For example, the average money spent by winning Senators is $ , by winning members of the House of Representative $ and of a Governorship $ . State and local positions cost less but are still expensive.
The problem is twofold. First, the bulk of State and National candidate campaign money comes from Special Interest Groups. This means, and has resulted in, Special Interest Groups influencing decisions of national importance. Unfortunately, while the decisions they influence are almost always in "their" best interest, they are often not in the nation's best interest. The second half of this problem is that the Congress and the President don't have the courage to pass legislation that would stop these campaign finance practices. Why, well because these are the same individuals who accept and are elected because of the SIG money. How will it change?. Only when a real leader is elected president or until we the citizens make it an issue during elections.
