Absolutely most certainly yes all three of those things.<p>Nefarious: government is, I contend, only that group of criminals we have collectively decided we would be better to regulate and pay off. I&#x27;m not saying this is a bad thing, we certainly need some regulation and law enforcement, etc.<p>Diabolically clever: the word means &#x27;characteristic of the devil&#x27; - government is responsible for torturing people, killing people in pointless wars, etc.<p>Cartoonishly inept: for sure! you only have to go outside, pick up a news paper, browse a news website, to see how incompetent government can be.<p>But, we tend to speak of &#x27;government&#x27; as some cohesive whole, which it most certainly is not. Is any one branch or agency of government all three of those things at all time? I don&#x27;t think so. Some parts of government do a fine job of administering their responsibilities, some of the time. Probably. Maybe.