We need to trim the number of politically appointed posts considerably in favor of civil servants, the weakness of which in this country is a considerable contributing factor to the current state of government. Currently there are about 700 Senate-confirmed appointments and 2,000 in total, when should ideally go down to a quarter of that figure (ballpark estimates, of course). A more independent administrative apparatus would strengthen organizational unity, impartiality, and hem in executive overreach and patronage. The Pendleton Act was fine for its time, but that was 130 years ago.
A start would be to form UK-style Permanent Secretary posts in each Cabinet Department.
Yeah, ideally that'd be the process. Having the entire upper division of every agency of government be Senate approved is nutso. Civil servants tend to take their jobs seriously, in my experience.
