Analyze this passage based on "Law must set boundaries protecting an open field of freedom, not intercede in all disputes". -There is no clearer illustration of American exceptionalism than the country's continuing discomfort with its own bureaucracy. Wealthy democracies in Europe and Asia take it for granted that an impersonal state is needed to protect citizens from threats and eschew corruption. In the U.S., by contrast, patronage remains rampant. When a typical European parliamentary government changes hands from one party to another, the ministers and a handful of staffers turn over. In the U.S., a change of administration (even within the same party) opens up some 5,000 "Schedule C" job positions to political appointees. By outsourcing jobs to outside contractors, U.S. politicians can pretend that they are holding the line on bureaucracy. No American politician wants to be seen as promoting the interests of bureaucrats. Though U.S. civil servants aren't particularly well-paid compared with their counterparts in the private sector or other democracies, many presidents (including the current one) have come into office capping federal pay raises and declaring hiring freezes. The latter is unnecessary since Congress, more than a half-century ago, passed a law limiting the number of government bureaucrats. Today, there are fewer full-time federal officials than in the 1960s, even though the U.S. government now spends more than five times what it did back then. The only way the federal government can continue to function is by outsourcing jobs to layers of outside contractors and subcontractors, which allows politicians to pretend that they are holding the line on bureaucracy. One of the worst consequences of today's bitter political divide is the further politicization of the federal bureaucracy. The U.S. government continues to maintain nonpartisan centers of excellence: Think of NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the uniformed military and the Federal Reserve. All are staffed by nonpartisan professionals chosen for their training and expertise. This administration has denigrated the career professionals working at the State Department, the Fed and even NOAA, whose hurricane predictions didn't seem to satisfy the president. What professional will want to work for the government in the future under such conditions