WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2025 - DOGE

 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2025 - DOGE

If you’ve been living under a rock, you may not know there is a new government entity - “Department Of Government Efficiency” or DOGE.  This group is being led by Elon Musk - CEO of Tesla cars, the Boring Company, and SpaceX, X (formerly known as Twitter), and maybe more.

Of course, change is difficult.

I probably would have been in the negative camp until I started thinking about Government Efficiency.

From Wikipedia:

The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was a federal law passed by the 47th Congress and signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur on January 16, 1883. The act mandates that most federal government positions be awarded based on merit instead of political patronage.

By the late 1820s, American politics operated on the spoils system, a political patronage practice in which officeholders awarded their allies with government jobs in return for financial and political support.

The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act provided for the selection of some government employees by competitive exams, rather than ties to politicians or political affiliation. It also made it illegal to fire or demote these government officials for political reasons and created the United States Civil Service Commission to enforce the merit system. 

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Who is a better civil servant for (say), the Department of the Interior - an environmental engineer with fifteen years working on environmental issues; or a politician from New Hampshire?  Would a candidate with advanced degrees in economics and finance be a better fit for the Department of the Treasury?

Years ago, we heard horror stories about toilet seats costing thousands of dollars or hammers in the Army costing way above the regular price. Although I haven’t heard of such items recently, I’m guessing they still happen.  

A source says there are 2.4 million federal employees. Do we need all of them? 

There are 334 million people in the United States, so there is just under one federal employee for every 100 people.  

Let’s be honest—there are some excellent civil servants in the United States and some excellent programs that help people in and abroad. There are also some less-than-excellent civil servants and some costly programs with little benefit.  

There are many research projects on diseases.  (I’ve applied for an Alzheimer’s study).  Wouldn’t it be grand the next time a COVID pops up, or the Bird Flu takes away my breakfast eggs, to be ready with a solution?

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My first impression is that doing a major study on government efficiency is inviting more inefficiencies as DOGE takes on an almost impossible task.

My second impression is, “If not now, when?” If we don’t do anything, the government may continue to grow, and we will have more inefficiencies.

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And, I’m not sure that there aren’t still some political appointments that could be better served by dedicated civil servants.  

If Karen White was to run for president (and get elected), I’m sure I’d want to give my supporters something. Lynette - do you want to be the ambassador to Norway?  Paul, would you like to be the ambassador to the Czech Republic?  Mary, how about being the ambassador to Tahiti!!!  Paula, could you serve at the ambassador to Haiti?  Rita, ambassador to Italy?  Sok Cheng - ambassador to Taiwan?  (Not to mainland China), Ramesh - ambassador to India?  

“Scratch my back (or contribute to my campaign), and I’ll scratch your back (some plum political appointment to an easy position).

LOVE WINS 

LOVE TRANSFORMS

Karen Anne White, February 19, 2025