Perhaps a side-note, but my most of my experience is the private sector. While the government jobs I've experienced were mostly 'the same' in all the bad ways,

Perhaps a side-note, but my most of my experience is the private sector. While the government jobs I've experienced were mostly 'the same' in all the bad ways, at least the pressure seemed a bit lower. I just wanted to point that out, because I find it extremely frustrating to discuss these matters with various friends who are all in agreement, but then somehow believe this is just a government thing, and as a result seem to be drinking more and more of the 'corporations and the free market optimize this shit away and socialism is bad' kool-aid. Which strikes me as both a simplistic and ineffective conclusion to draw, if we're thinking about better ways to do things. Oversimplifying, but in my experience the private sector, at scale, is often just as inefficient and bullshitty and mind-numbing and depressing as a government entity, just with less job protection, higher pressure, and perhaps often less of a meaningful societal value, however inefficiently achieved. And perhaps worst of all, you get managers/bosses who are not just content to do an okay job at their current position, but actively employ a ruthlessness and ambition that makes their stupidity all the more problematic.