Why does the US government appoint unelected officials, who are not accountable to the voters, to head government departments?

Can you imagine a ballot of hundreds of politicians for every position in the national government? Given the existing level of voter participation in this country (both the turnout to vote at all and the amount of research and careful decision making done on the average), holding a vote for every minor office would effectively randomize the choice--not to mention decrease many voters' interest in the election even further. Instead, officials are appointed by higher officials whose job it is to understand the candidates and the duties of the office.

A government where every citizen voted on everything directly would be a true democracy, and the above is one of many reasons that we aren't one. Granted, there's nothing ideal about the current system, but it beats the known alternatives.

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subjective; lacks supporting evidence; just opinions
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by Answers101 on March 17th, 2006
I don't think the question was about dog-catchers, more like Cabinet members.
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by Grandma Roses - my avatar is my real dog on March 23rd, 2006
unfortunately grandma, there over over 2100 major political appointees for every adminsitration
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by RJTRIES on March 27th, 2006

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