It'll never be smart, because we always demand more of it. Which is fair. Being better than the average, being better than before, and moving in the right direction are all excellent things that we should be happy about.
I've come to accept that the best I can ever hope for from our government is that it's marginally better than it was before. As long as I don't look too close at the details to find the ratfuckery or corruption or red tape.
But I refuse to be happy about it the fact that government will always be stupid.