American popular culture has a long tradition of viewing government bureaucracies
negatively [1]. Gates and Hill noted that “the popular media is often filled with complaints
that the bureaucracy is out of control [2].” A recent review of depictions of government on
television noted “that television has been critical of government from its earliest days as a
medium of mass entertainment. . . We also found a long-term trend toward more negative
portrayals of both government institutions and the people who staff them [3].” Holzer and