The general consensus is that the reviews being conducted by Elon Musk and the “Department of Government Efficiency” are way overdue.
The level of waste is astounding, and we will see those responsible for this fraud be brought up on charges, even if that takes a little bit longer. The virtue signaling from “we need to do something about education” to “we have a department of education” stops abruptly when we figure out they have done nothing to improve educational outcomes, and have likely hamstrung our entire educational system with needless red tape.
Demanding results from the institutions we as a people fund is natural – just like we don’t buy things that don’t provide value and provide us with usefulness or a return. When we are spending our own funds directly, we can add things that we find of beauty, or that bring us pleasure.
Government should never be taking our money to spend on either.
The Department of Government efficiency is looking at how the money is spent, and where it’s spent. Soon we are going to need to take the next step, and start applying common sense to what the bureaucrats are actually doing with the money.
Show me the results.
If your mission is to eliminate poverty, show me how you are succeeding? If your mission is to eliminate homelessness, how many have you helped to achieve sustainable housing?
Those are common-sense questions that are not commonly asked.
For the past 60 years our government has been waging a war to eliminate poverty, yet it remains pervasive and we really have not improved the lot of the bottom rung of society. Our government has relieved us of trillions in this quest, with few results.
The same is true with homelessness. With the bureaucratic pyramid built, the administrative fees outstrip the benefits delivered to those who are sleeping in alleys. Bureaucracies, once created, forget their mission and instead concentrate on how they will survive.
They are chock-full of well-paid people who are receiving government benefits and pensions, and you’re damn straight they don’t want “their job” going away. The legislation that created these agencies is written by young, idealistic congressional staffers who don’t have the knowledge or experience in life to see how the programs they are creating can run amok.
Take poverty, for example. For decades the program has a gallows-like trap door – the minute a recipient starts to get ahead, the floor falls out from beneath, strangling their dreams, and that makes it impossible for the poor to escape the program administered by the bureaucrats.
It’s not only cruel and unusual, but it demotivates the poor and sets them up to choose poverty as a lifestyle. The cycle continues.
But the bureaucratic status quo is preserved.
The community in which I live has encouraged a homeless encampment. They live in tents in a prescribed area, raid the local smokers ashtrays for butts, commit crimes, and are encouraged by a group of people who think they are doing good when what they are actually just prolonging the agony.
Many of these people should be institutionalized, but we have taken that off the table as an option. It’s about time a real discussion surrounding this very real problem is had by those who insist on addressing the real issues.
Every winter, these mentally ill people who refuse to take advantage of the shelters that are provided to them at taxpayer expense, and too many lose fingers and toes to frostbite. They show up at the hospital, and we get to pay for their surgery.
They consume the majority of our police department’s time and energy because, yes, they have rights. They know not what they do, but they are encouraged to do so.
Since the beginning of time, there have been people who either lack the intellect or emotional stability to survive on their own. I contend that encouraging them is the wrong thing to do. This forced de-institutionalization is not helping our nation, yet our tax dollars go to promote these people harming themselves every day.
All because of the bureaucrats and the money they forcibly take from us.
Maybe it is time for the “Department of Common Sense,” too.
