What executive position in government would you like? (P&R)

I’d volunteer to head the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

(Many years ago I interviewed for a position there but decided against it.)

Oh, none, not ever. Thanks for asking, though.

It’s a rare person who can handle well—handle well—even the negligible amount of power that comes with being, say, a store manager, never mind a corporate director. Government? My god.

It’s said that power corrupts, and I believe it does. I’ve seen myself change when I had a little conventional power, and I didn’t like it. It’s hard to imagine what political power, with all its extensions and ramifications, does to a person, even someone who has integrity and a strong character to start with. At times I wonder how it happens that a government does any decent thing at all.

Somewhere in the Administrative State