Your theory falls apart in light of the fact that there are long running government agencies outside the US that are efficient. So, "crud buildup" isn't it, no

Your theory falls apart in light of the fact that there are long running government agencies outside the US that are efficient. So, "crud buildup" isn't it, not by itself. There is, however, a good case to be made that the increasing politicization makes the job inherently harder. Statements like "I bet if we just clean our house" are exactly that - it is not a proposal that's in any way actionable, but if enough people say it, there will be increased pressure to justify actions, which creates more bureaucracy. Mind, I'm not saying there shouldn't be accountability. But we must move this discussion away from "Just do <simple slogan>" towards actual analysis, or the side effects of a populist discussion mean that administrative efforts drown in layers and layers of useless ass covering, just to shield from that pressure. Starting from scratch doesn't really solve - or even discover - the underlying problem either. It might be a tool to address issues, but we don't know until we concretely investigate what the problems and root causes are. Alas, that requires serious investment. And I really don't see a political climate where any effort to invest large amounts into rebuilding administrative capacity is successful. We're currently very much in a feedback loop. How to break that is, at least to me, ultimately a question of societal stability.