America has elected its 47th President, either through lawful means or election trickery. The President has embarked on a heavy handed and disruptive approach to governing that is historic. His abrasive and divisive policies and handling of foreign relations, trade relations, and global alliances,’ i.e., NATO are reckless and undermines decades of diplomatic relations. The reckless and non-strategic slashing and burning of the US federal agencies is mindless and meant only to generate new revenues to offset massive tax cuts for big companies and the ultra-rich, under the cloud of improving government. This is the only thing transparent about the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The national debt is out of control, few will disagree with this reality. According to a one-sided CATO Institute report, Nowrasteh, (2004) “Government debt already at record highs, will explode to unprecedented levels on auto pilot over the next three decades, risking a combination of high inflation, slower growth and federal default.”
There is a wrong way and a right way to lower the nation's debt, create a more efficient government and shrink the size of government. There are examples of new Presidential Administrations’ efforts to reform the federal government in the past that were not successful. Most attempts did not achieve intended goals, because they were done backwards, from the top down and instead of the bottom up. Not unlike the current administrations indiscriminate slash and burn approach to improving government. Where are the efforts to consult the public or federal government workers on the front lines prior to eliminating jobs and whole agencies Gore et al., (2010). The current administration is simply following the play book of right-wing outsiders, led by a less than official government agencies, with a never elected and unconfirmed businessperson-Elon Musk and a president determined to cut taxes for big business.
The concerns about the federal government efficiency and waste-fraud and abuse are real and justified. Simply eliminating jobs and government agencies is not a sustainable remedy. It could help balance the budget in the near term, but a slash and burn strategy will only shift governments’ organization responsibilities and not change anything Gore et al., (2010).
The American people want a government that is efficient, equitable, dependable and serves the common good. Americans want a government that will collaborate with small medium enterprises to cut cost, create efficient innovative operating strategies, and captures its value for money. Americans want best in class customer service as compared to the private sector. Americans do not want a balanced budget at any expense. Americans don’t want to substitute deep organizational review at the federal level, to identify waste, fraud and abuse, with a chainsaw mentality. This may save money but in the long run it will undermine agency missions and hurt the American people-not to mention the pain it inflicts on those federal workers being terminated.
What DOGE, and Yes Men republicans, do not realize is that the mission of the federal government is not the bottom-line in terms of cost. The mission is to deliver for the American people goods and services explicitly entrusted to the federal government, at the best possible cost. Not the other way around. Redundancy is often an intended strategy to ensure deliverables.
Disruption as a strategy by itself is not a strategy that will effectively create a more efficient, lean, and dependable government. This is chaos, the result of a myopic torched earth philosophy of government. Which can do irreparable damage. We cannot sit by and simply watch this happen. It is past time to use the judicial and legislative branches of government and the mid-term elections to change congress and stop the train wreck the current administration is leading us towards.
Dr. Carl Harris, Sr DBA
Doctor of Business Administration
Specialization Public Administration
Founder and Principal Consultant
SME GLOBAL BUSINESS CONSULTING LLC
Yorumlar