“Entrenched bureaucracy” == a government not run top-to-bottom by political loyalists, like every administration in the modern era has had to deal with?
We got rid of the spoils system because it fucking sucked.
I'm still amazed by people who consider "politicization" as something done to the Trump administration rather than caused by it. Decades of peaceful transfers of power without wholesale purges, and now that's all changed for some mysterious reason.
I'm not amazed. The only people who consider that politicization was done to Trump administration are Trump supporters and people who have money to gain by ignoring Jan 6 or his constant attacks on anybody that doesn't support him. To be a Republican today is to be a hypocrite in name, action, deed, and as a key part of your core moral system.
We got rid of the spoils system because it fucking sucked.