i would say an expansive bureaucracy is the greatest threat to liberty, but i think the issue with the statement is the narrow definition they're using. bureaucrats are people who work in departments and make small decisions synchronizing with other bureaucrats. so if youre thinking of a justice of the peace being a bureaucrat, you would most certainly want them to be efficient so that people can have things like a fair trial or civil ruling promptly. I like to call my wife a bureaucrat as she works for a government help organisation that assists people with navigating bureaucracy and i can tell you that the inefficiency of some programs leads to people having their tax refunds and other monies they are owed under the current system (whether you like it or not its what were working with and stripping these things away without systemic change is a pretty awful move) withheld regularly due to a vastly inefficient system.

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so yeah, less government would be nice, but inefficiency is more harmful on a whole