[lbriner]

Yes I agree, that it is easy to assume people are not clever but you only have to see most Politicians after they leave Government to hear how (usually) perceptive, articulate and intelligent they are - which presumably is how they convinced people to vote for them.

However, Government is like a big corporation with extreme levels of power and corruption in every country. It is also largely unique in that the Prime Minister/President can't just get rid of people they don't like or are not very good at their job, the voters recruited them! So then you balanbce priority, idealism, party politics, saving-face, money, making yourselves look powerful to the world, trade agreements and loads of other things. To be fair, it is remarkable we get anything useful out of it.