There’s almost no part of government, down to the smallest unit, that doesn’t approach the public as though a salesperson, as a matter of persuasion through public or media relations.
Consider how odd, how ironic, this situation is: government, whose authority derives in a free society only from the public, uses public resources to present itself craftily and deceptively to the very people to whom government owes its very existence.
One would expect candor in that relationship, and instead one finds mostly sophistry.
So, instead of presenting a story simply and humbly, public agencies use others’ money in taxes to present themselves as though they were not mere public officials, but angels, archangels, and demigods.
If someone sent one of these officials out to report the weather, he’d return with a story about how he (personally and selflessly) braved a hurricane, two tornadoes, a hailstorm, and a thunderous avalanche, just to let others know that it was, in fact, sunny outside.
Of all the acts of government, few are so distorted as public men using public resources to exaggerate their own accomplishments, or understate their own mistakes, to the very people they claim to serve.