I think that small bits and pieces of the gov't have the ability to be ruthlessly efficient, if they so choose. Think DEA, FBI, the military ...small unit level, not as organizations.
However, you're absolutely right that as a whole (and that's what we're talking about here), the government and its attendant bureaucracy is a stumbling, ineffective giant.
People like to think of it as sort of a cross between "Mission Impossible" and "The X Files"..... groups of ruthless, all-knowing and well-informed men, immaculately dressed in black suits or in starched white shirts with the sleeves rolled up, sitting around smoking cigarettes and nefariously plotting to take over the world. Usually in 72 hours or less.
Reality? We're talking more along the lines of Colonel Klink and Sgt. Shultz, but with better polished dialog, and more scripted.
LOL! We all complain about wasteful, lazy, incompetent government workers but in reality its best that they stay that way. Wasted money is better than internment and execution.
Yep, that's actually far closer to reality than some shmaltzy Hollywood fantasy.