[ClearCase_guy]

Politics is a field that requires a special kind of expertise. I mean that.
You have to know how to get elected. That is a genuine skill, and some have it and some do not.
Or you have to know bureacratic politics well enough to rise up in an organization.

Skill in politics will get your butt into a seat at the table.

The problem is that the people who end up with seats at the table do not have to be smart, or competent, or principled. The only thing they know how to do is get a seat at the table.

And then it's time to party, because the work has been accomplished!

[ClearCase_guy]

What I meant to suggest is that the problem is two-fold:

1) Schools don't educate people as well as they should.
2) The government is not likely to be staffed by educated people, even if we had a surplus of such educated people.

We're screwed.