The government, just like all other public organizations, is the way it is because we make it the way it is. This is a fundamental truth that so many people just don't seem to get. Everything that that schools and governments and so forth do, they do because we force them to do it. Here I'm talking about the POLITICAL part of the government that we complain so much about, not the army or the NSA and so forth.

Any apparently stupid thing that you name that they do, I can almost certainly demonstrate why we force them to be that way.

Never accept blame for anything? Well, of course not. Despite the fact that anyone who actually makes a decision will sometimes be partly wrong or cause some unforeseen consequences, any admitted failure will be used to bludgeon the offender to death in the press.

Schools concentrate completely on standardized tests and the results of those? Of course they do because if any school or teacher decided to make their own criteria about what should be taught and how, they'd be sued immediately into oblivion. The only way to protect themselves against that is to avoid any sort of unmeasurable criteria for success.

Admit the other side might be right about something? Of course they won't, because the entire (very large) propaganda system of that other side will again use it to bludgeon the admitter to death politically.

There's no balance or perspective or grace in government because so many people who they depend on to stay in office have no balance or perspective or grace. It's not about what's best for the country, it's about our side vs the other side. When so many people take that stance, anyone who in any way whatsoever attempts to present a gray scale view of anything will likely get politically killed.

Do the people these politicians understand the finer points of the issues that are being dealt with? No, they don't. So how do you appeal to those people using the finer points. If you do, some demagogue on the other side will label you a flip-flopper and take your place with his glib one liners and pot shots.

It's all the way it is because the people of this country make it that way. And it's not going to change until you manage to change the people. The odds of that happening are about the same as me getting laid, so don't hold your breath.