Once upon a time, government was seen as a burden; many city-states chose their executive councils by lot, because no one wanted the job and they wanted the responsibility spread among the ruling class. That was when there were no emoluments and little glory to be had in the thankless task of government. The result really didn't differ much from what we have now, though, or what has ever been: the rulers help each other (when they aren't cutting each other's throats), and the class as a whole works to keep the rest of us down. There was this romantic idea that paying legislators and executives would free them from corruption, which didn't work all that well, either. However, the business of keeping a large and complex society running does require the full-time effort of a large caste of bureaucrats and workers, and somebody has to direct them. And government, in part, exists to put boundaries on the exploitation of the people by the ruling class, by creating and enforcing some framework of regulation (however bad), and somebody has to design the regulations. Given that the work must go on, it can only be done by those who don't want to do it, or those who do. But of course, the result is something in the middle: few who want the job want to actually do the work. A lot of folks want the glory and the prestige, though, but ironically they are undermining both by being assholes.
-- Mal
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