Human nature – is human nature. It is immutable.
There are things we do well – and things we don’t.
The nation’s Founding Fathers knew this – and wrote their Constitution accordingly.
Which is why a federal government that remains within the Constitution’s confines – is so incredibly small.
The Founders knew giving humans power – and the power to lord it over other humans – was a TERRIBLE idea. So they severely limited the government they created.
The Founders knew the humans drawn to lord government power over others – were imbued with a toxic combination of some of the worst of human characteristics. So the Founders severely limited their opportunities to do so.
“Is it really true that political self-interest is nobler somehow than economic self-interest? . . . And just tell me where in the world you find these angels who are going to organize society for us.”
God bless Donald Trump – and what he appears to be attempting to do to DC.
But I would LOVE to see his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – attempt to shrink government, rather than make it more efficient.
Because you CAN NOT make government more efficient. Because human nature.
Behold (yet again) – my Wallet Rule:
You go out on Friday night with your wallet. You go out the following Friday night with my wallet. On which Friday night are you going to have more fun?
Obviously you will have more fun with my wallet – because at the end of the evening you care what your wallet looks like. My wallet? You don’t care quite so much.
Well, government is always using other peoples’ wallets. And the Friday night never, ever ends.
So you will NEVER get bureaucrats to mind our money – in any way that is even remotely rational or reasonable.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy – the dual heads of The DOGE – are private sector successes.
Well, Musk is…sort of. His two biggest companies massively rely upon MASSIVE government subsidies (Tesla) – and contracts (SpaceX).
It will be interesting to see what The DOGE specifically – and the Trump Administration generally – do to fake energy subsides. For things like electric fake vehicles – and wind and solar fake power.
I’m sure both Musk and Ramaswamy know from their businesses – that they can’t get their employees to be entirely efficient with their money.
And Musk and Ramaswamy are WAY more hands-on with their businesses – then bureaucrats are with their bureaucracies. Because human nature.
The dream of Government Efficiency – is a pipe dream. As in: You’re smoking crack – from a pipe.
Musk and Ramaswamy should petition Trump to rename – and re-aim – their assignment. To the Agency to Reduce Government – ARG.
As in “aargh” – which is what DC will be saying. To which Musk-Ramaswamy’s response should be: “Like that? Here’s some more reduction.”
The federal government in 2023 spent $6.1 trillion. The entirety of the US economy in 2023 was $27.4 trillion.
Get that? The federal government spent 22.2% – of what every man, woman and child combined created in the US. There are 1/3rd of a BILLION people in the US.
That’s disgusting. That doesn’t call for efficiency – that demands reduction.
There are 23.7 million full-time and part-time federal employees. Plus over 760,000 federal civilians. And more than 560,000 contractors – each with their own raft of even more employees.
That’s disgusting. That doesn’t call for efficiency – that demands reduction.
Here’s a good top line first rule:
If all fifty states have a “Department of X” or “Y Agency?” The federal government shouldn’t have one.
To wit: All fifty states have a version of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). So the federal government shouldn’t have one.
Now we reach a semantic quibble – were one desirous of picking nits. Whether the following is “efficiency” or “reduction?” It should happen – a LOT.
There are federal agencies that actually do a thing or two that actually matters (to go along with the avalanche of things that don’t).
And often there are several other agencies – ALSO doing the exact same thing or two that actually matters.
Pick one to do them – and stop all the rest from doing them.
And here’s where it gets even better. After the consolidations – we can begin the closings.
MANY of the agencies actually doing a useful thing or two – can be shuttered once those things are assigned elsewhere.
To wit: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC). You can’t mend it – so end it.
Idle bureaucrat hands – are the Devil’s playground.
The FCC’s busybodies have so little of actual value to do – they constantly look to power grab relevancy.
Net Neutrality: US Revives Controversial Web Rules Trump Worked to Quash
We have been engaged in this idiotic Net Neutrality back-and-forth – since 2010. Barack Obama’s FCC grabbed – Trump’s FCC released. Biden’s FCC grabbed – Trump’s FCC will release….
What all of this idiocy has succeeded in establishing? Is the FCC has zero authority to grab.
Court: FCC Can’t Enforce Net Neutrality – January 15, 2014
Court Blocks Net Neutrality, Says ISPs Are Likely to Win Case Against FCC – August 5, 2024
The FCC does have something it should have all along been doing: Getting more wireless spectrum to the private sector.
The Government Giving the Left What They Want: More Terrible Policy – April 22, 2014:
“The federal government is yet again acquiescing to the ridiculous anti-free market demands of the Left. We the People will yet again be forced to pay dearly for the resulting damage.
“We have looming before us a wireless spectrum crunch. Spectrum being the finite airwaves we use for all things wireless – from cell phones to car key fobs.”
More Internet and Access? We Need More Spectrum and Less Gov – February 20, 2019:
“‘Too Much Government, Too Little Spectrum:
“‘(G)uess who controls a majority of the best spectrum, the spectrum most suitable for mobile broadband? It’s the federal government itself. Almost 60 percent of that spectrum is in federal hands.’”
5G and China: The Private Sector Needs More Licensed Spectrum, Please – February 14, 2022
But the FCC has all along been too busy grabbing what it shouldn’t – to have been doing what it should.
And then this happened. Because DC.
Congress Lets FCC’s Spectrum Auction Authorization Lapse
Here’s a thought: Let’s not renew the FCC’s authority – or the FCC.
Dealing with spectrum – is about the only useful thing the FCC does. And – shocker – it ain’t the only bureaucracy dealing with spectrum:
“Regulatory responsibility for the radio spectrum is divided between the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).”
So: Congress should authorize spectrum auction authority – for the NTIA.
And then Musk and Ramaswamy – should shut down the FCC.
As in: End it – don’t futilely attempt to mend it.
First published at LessGovernment.org.
Seton Motley is the president of Less Government, a DC-based non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the power of government and protecting the First Amendment from governmental assault.
