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Thanks for your comment, it led me to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_service_reform_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_service_re

Thanks for your comment, it led me to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_service_reform_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_service_reform_in_the_..., which I think gives a very good overview of the history of civil service reforms in the US.

ethbr1 2y ago
I went down a rabbit hole on the history of the US civil service, after reading a Teddy Roosevelt biography. It was surprising to see just how corrupt/archaic the then system was, by modern standards. But yet the country still functioned. My takeaway was that the existence of the civil service at all, rather than its particular virtue, dominated value. There's benefit from even a pretty corrupt one!