That's what I get for jumping in the middle of a thread...
...and not spawning a new one.
I wasn't actually trying to extrapolate to one party or the other. In fact, I generally consider both to be so full of shit that I'd rather live in an outhouse than either party's quarters - I was just disagreeing that the current administration has actually done much to help the current situation.
#1, by definition practically excludes being a part of #3. #1 (career bureaucrats) are literally unconcerned with the work that they're actually supposed to be doing - instead, they are concerned with a) keeping their job, b) doing as little work as possible, and c) maximizing their own political capital, with the aim of d) maximizing their salary.
#2, on the other hand, has an allergic reaction to actually doing any REAL work - and instead likes to preach to everybody else that if we just followed "Magic Formula #49" - flavor of the week bullshit, PHB special from Hell. Creates a bunch of make-work for everybody else, and doesn't actually get anything accomplished, including their own agenda.
Now, these are extremes - but the bullshit content that my dad has been seeing in the education department has definitely gone up quite a bit - TONS of busywork and do-nothing-go-nowhere-feelgood-studies-holding-up-idea-of-the-week wasting money that could actually be going to schools, instead of being studied to death.
In fact, that's the thing that has my father frustrated the most - whenever a study doesn't work out the way that Shrub's cronies want it, they sponsor another study.
And another.
And another.
And another.
Until finally, by some fluke, they get some data that they can twist around and make it support their position. Dad's a PhD in Statistics - so he's the guy who gets to do the twisting, whether or not he agrees with it. He's been doing a lot more twisting under the current admin than he was before...
