If the civil service/permanent bureaucracy/whatever you wish to call it were politically neutral, you'd have an excellent point. But because (not surprisingly) there is a significant bias to "big government" among the civil service, and the Democrats are the party of big government, there's a powerful lean, especially towards the top, towards the Democrats. So Democratic presidents are strongly supported as they implement their policies, but Republican presidents are significantly thwarted, as the senior civil servants resist the initiatives of the political appointees to whom they now report.
This is why Republican attempts to shrink the (let's face it, enormous) federal government routinely fail.
If the civil service didn't want Trump, it should have realized what it was doing - growing ever larger as it embraced expanded roles and resisted cutbacks. Now, Trump is here. If the civil service succeeds in thwarting Trump's efforts to shrink our (let's face it, unaffordable) government, something much worse than Trump will come along soon enough.
What a hoot!. Claiming that the federal bureaucracy is independent when 90+ support the Democrat party. Their public sector unions dump millions of dollars and free labor into Democrat campaigns. The graft of government and politics is so alive and well in the DC swamp. In fact, it is more so today than the romanticized end to Tammany Hall type corruption.
The design of this still greatest nation on God's green earth was for limited government. It is time for all these unaccountable government workers to feel the burn of layoffs that many of them routinely cause the private sector though byzantine and multi-layered rules, enforcements and fines.
For an essay that claims to be "dedicated to...a civil service employee" it sure is dripping with a lot of contempt for them. Do you really think that peppering your essay with so many insults is a good example of persuasion?
You write "it’s time to change from a mindset of self-interest and follow-the-leader ... to a mindset of public duty and self-sacrifice." It's well known that civil service employees in more specialized jobs, the ones requiring expertise in science and engineering, could earn more money outside of the federal government; they already have a mindset of "public duty and self-sacrifice". For example, the Digital Service that Musk casually dissolved consisted of software engineers who were proud of the work they were doing and could have easily earned more elsewhere.
The essay suffers from the availability heuristic. Because you have been dealing with the fraction of government employees who face the public every day, you assume everyone in government is like that all the time. I've met people who work in government that you and most other readers will never encounter, and found them solidly committed to doing a good job. What really hurts them is not just threatened job loss, but seeing their work erased for political reasons.
Standing up against unconstitutional actions by Trump is somehow noble? You must be joking, the reason he wants to downsize the Deep State is because it has been doing unconstitutional things for decades with no oversight. Passing regulations that are not in the enabling statutes. Taking enforcement actions against companies and citizens who are on the wrong political side. Not allowing people to escape agency administrative law "courts" and go to the Federal court system, which they are CONSTITUTIONALLY guaranteed they can do. How many of these agency employees have said they will refuse to carry out the policies of this administration while actively working to undermine it? How many billions of dollars have these agencies shoved out the door to their radical-leftist cronies for vague projects not even described in the grant application, and for which no accounting for results will ever be provided or even expected? And the hundreds, if not thousands, of civil service employees who work full time for their unions, not at the job they were hired to do, while they are being paid by the taxpayer. I'm sure there are some honest and dedicated government employees but there are also many corrupt, dishonest, politically-motivated rent seekers who have no interest whatsoever in doing their actual job or looking after the interests of the taxpayer. Yes, we need to radically shrink and reform this monster mess
Don't quit, but also don't defy your boss when he gives you lawful orders. Do the best service you can to the country and ignore any well-meaning articles giving Trump 1 more paper to use to claim you're not doing your job. My job's been dealing with the Trump admin by… continuing to do our jobs, and it's an effective strategy.
It is understandable that people have their own interests and concerns. It’s even expected.
It’s _dangerous_ when those people are in a position to enforce their interests against the rest of us. The bureaucracy has begun to openly intervene in our elections.
We do not need government of the people by the government for the government.
If the civil service/permanent bureaucracy/whatever you wish to call it were politically neutral, you'd have an excellent point. But because (not surprisingly) there is a significant bias to "big government" among the civil service, and the Democrats are the party of big government, there's a powerful lean, especially towards the top, towards the Democrats. So Democratic presidents are strongly supported as they implement their policies, but Republican presidents are significantly thwarted, as the senior civil servants resist the initiatives of the political appointees to whom they now report.
This is why Republican attempts to shrink the (let's face it, enormous) federal government routinely fail.
If the civil service didn't want Trump, it should have realized what it was doing - growing ever larger as it embraced expanded roles and resisted cutbacks. Now, Trump is here. If the civil service succeeds in thwarting Trump's efforts to shrink our (let's face it, unaffordable) government, something much worse than Trump will come along soon enough.
What a hoot!. Claiming that the federal bureaucracy is independent when 90+ support the Democrat party. Their public sector unions dump millions of dollars and free labor into Democrat campaigns. The graft of government and politics is so alive and well in the DC swamp. In fact, it is more so today than the romanticized end to Tammany Hall type corruption.
The design of this still greatest nation on God's green earth was for limited government. It is time for all these unaccountable government workers to feel the burn of layoffs that many of them routinely cause the private sector though byzantine and multi-layered rules, enforcements and fines.
For an essay that claims to be "dedicated to...a civil service employee" it sure is dripping with a lot of contempt for them. Do you really think that peppering your essay with so many insults is a good example of persuasion?
You write "it’s time to change from a mindset of self-interest and follow-the-leader ... to a mindset of public duty and self-sacrifice." It's well known that civil service employees in more specialized jobs, the ones requiring expertise in science and engineering, could earn more money outside of the federal government; they already have a mindset of "public duty and self-sacrifice". For example, the Digital Service that Musk casually dissolved consisted of software engineers who were proud of the work they were doing and could have easily earned more elsewhere.
The essay suffers from the availability heuristic. Because you have been dealing with the fraction of government employees who face the public every day, you assume everyone in government is like that all the time. I've met people who work in government that you and most other readers will never encounter, and found them solidly committed to doing a good job. What really hurts them is not just threatened job loss, but seeing their work erased for political reasons.
Standing up against unconstitutional actions by Trump is somehow noble? You must be joking, the reason he wants to downsize the Deep State is because it has been doing unconstitutional things for decades with no oversight. Passing regulations that are not in the enabling statutes. Taking enforcement actions against companies and citizens who are on the wrong political side. Not allowing people to escape agency administrative law "courts" and go to the Federal court system, which they are CONSTITUTIONALLY guaranteed they can do. How many of these agency employees have said they will refuse to carry out the policies of this administration while actively working to undermine it? How many billions of dollars have these agencies shoved out the door to their radical-leftist cronies for vague projects not even described in the grant application, and for which no accounting for results will ever be provided or even expected? And the hundreds, if not thousands, of civil service employees who work full time for their unions, not at the job they were hired to do, while they are being paid by the taxpayer. I'm sure there are some honest and dedicated government employees but there are also many corrupt, dishonest, politically-motivated rent seekers who have no interest whatsoever in doing their actual job or looking after the interests of the taxpayer. Yes, we need to radically shrink and reform this monster mess
Don't quit, but also don't defy your boss when he gives you lawful orders. Do the best service you can to the country and ignore any well-meaning articles giving Trump 1 more paper to use to claim you're not doing your job. My job's been dealing with the Trump admin by… continuing to do our jobs, and it's an effective strategy.
It is understandable that people have their own interests and concerns. It’s even expected.
It’s _dangerous_ when those people are in a position to enforce their interests against the rest of us. The bureaucracy has begun to openly intervene in our elections.
We do not need government of the people by the government for the government.