The FAA is among many federal agencies that are the result of delegated authority from Congress. They have been (so far) unsuccessfully argued to be unconstitut

The FAA is among many federal agencies that are the result of delegated authority from Congress. They have been (so far) unsuccessfully argued to be unconstitutional, the argument is that the constitution doesn't give Congress the power to delegate their authority. These agencies are quasi-legislative, they make their own regulations both applied internally but on the public; for the FAA these are the Federal Aviation Regulations or FARs. They are quasi-judicial, they have their own enforcement. Pilots, manufacturers, flight schools - anyone and anything regulated by the FAA caught violating FARs are subject to enforcement action by the FAA, they don't go before a judge or a jury. And they are also quasi-executive, because they enforce their own regulations. If you've heard of separation of powers, three branches of government, this regulatory arrangement is the exact opposite. While you get all kinds of specialization within these different departments, they're also sufficiently divorced from accountability that they aren't really accountable, except by budgeting. Congress can and frequently does just decide to defund specific projects within departments. Quite a lot of this bureaucracy is by design though, Congress is highly incentivized to spend more time campaigning/taking legalized bribes, and less time making laws and keeping track of where all the money is spent, and if it's spent effectively and per the law - hence another department that specializes in that so Congress doesn't do it unless there's a TV reason (raise money) to do it. That'd be the GAO. So it all comes back to money and not civic duty. But this kind of government is exactly what we get in a culture that values entertainment over facts, spectator sports over citizenry, the incivility of outrage politics over civility, illiberalism over liberalism. And the impatience of people over due process does incentivize the desire for personalities who can break through the log jam, maybe even violate the law, and force bureaucrats to do their job - autocracy all very appealing to the weak minded, and there's a lot of that. If the society were more on the same page than not, we'd stand a better chance of amending the constitution and get money out of politics. But we're not, so oh well.