Consider what we have: an elected plutocracy, the very zenith of predatory capitalism, in a brazen attempt to apply what works at casinos, at satellite and rocket companies, at high-tech unicorns, to the mentality of a person who when asked why they chose their particular public service career at a federal agency, replies, “stable job, good benefits.” When you squeeze pork, you don’t get accountability, you don’t get efficiency. You do get anxiety and fear. As one minion at the Department of Energy put it, “I would say there is a general feeling of dread among everyone.”
To be sure, I am not under any illusion that Elon Musk or Vivek Ramaswamy, or incoming OMB Director Russell Vought, or the newly minted Senate DOGE Caucus, are going to transform the swamp into a sparkling sheet of ice. They will create a great deal of havoc in the form of a myriad of lawsuits. Employee morale will plummet even further (harness your imagination).
Musk is not going to help his cause by posting a “leaderboard for most insanely dumb spending of your tax dollars.” He adds, “This will be both tragic and extremely entertaining.” While the vaudeville from the White House will enthrall with four years of seamless click-bait, the grand tragedy is not the thousands of jobs purged, but that their organizational genius is fueled by petty political crusades. Their daggers are selectively aimed at the EPA, DOL, Dept. of Ed, the IRS, the FTC, and the FDA, and not pointed at the DOD and Homeland Security, which together account for 60% of government payroll.
In fact, payroll as a whole is a paltry 4% of the overall federal budget. And you can be sure not to find the $40 billion in USDA farm subsidies on Musk’s leaderboard. DOGE itself will not be immune to infection, and will become yet another tumor in the deep state.
Caked in mud, I’ve yet to make it out of that sink hole I ventured into earlier. I had staked my claim on greed being better than sloth. Even if I checked the wrong box, whatever the outcome, I’m blaming it on bureaucratic red tape!
After years of globetrotting, Broadman finds himself writing from his perch on the Palouse and loving the view. His policy briefs can be found at US Resist News: https://www.usresistnews.org.