It can be, when it isn't hamstrug by stupid regulations.
In the US the government tends toward being ineffective because it typically isn't allowed to do much on its own. For almost everything it hires contractors to execute a function and then serves as oversight for the contractor. The only real exceptions I can think of to this outside of the military are the postal service, the forest service, and the FAA. All of which are pretty notably effective considering the depth and breadth of the service they provide, and provide high quality, long term employment.
As long as the demand exists in the market, the niche will be filled. There's simply too much money to be made.
As a related example:
Mexico has a cartel problem not because their government is weak, but because the scale of the American drug market means every cartel has an annual income that dwarfs any conceivable taxation revenue. Which means they're better armed, better staffed, better equipped, and overall a more formidable threat than can be dealt with.
Even fully legalizing drugs in the US might not undercut the cartels at this point because their operations have extended so far into legitimate forms of income at this point. Cartels are an agricultural powerhouse, and are responsibility for the vast majority of avocado production for example.