If people could understand that, then we wouldn't have 99% of the world's problems. Unfortunately, it's not intuitive. People really do believe the Rousseau vision that it's the government's job to execute the general will of the people. And that if the will of the people is determined through democratic processes, that the purpose of government is to give the people what they willed.
The question of whether governments are capable of executing that will is hardly considered. It is far more likely that failures of government will be laid at the feet of this politician or that one. I'm not letting these politicians and bureaucrats off the hook - some are better at managing things than others. They have an incentive to try to keep things afloat until they're out of their position and it lands on the next manager. (Usually, by expending more resources) But ultimately, government failure is guaranteed. Because the institutional incentives of politicians and bureaucrats are not aligned with executing the will of the people, but with covering their own asses. It's government's fatal flaw. Our Founders understood that. But most people today don't even consider it.
So, we give government the responsibility for nearly every aspect of our lives. And then they foreseeably mess it up. What's worse is that we've given that same government responsibility for the education of our children. Well, of course those same government politicians and bureaucrats have the incentive to make sure that no one even questions whether governments are capable of executing the people's will - only that it's their job to do so.
