Theories on Why Government Officials Are Getting More Officious

Theory 1: It's the fault of Libertarianism. In days of yore, anti-authoritarians may have been less likely to avoid government work and authoritarians would be working with anti-authoritarians. Today, an anti-authoritarian who seeks government work may consider himself to be a hypocrite. As a result, police forces today consist entirely of Barney Fifes.

Theory 2: The above-mentioned anti-authoritarians got government jobs a few decades ago because of the lack of private-sector jobs in the 1930s and 1940s. Today, they have more opportunities.

Put it together, and you have fewer people in government whose reaction to SWAT teams for post offices or sanitation departments would be to say “Are you nuts?”