DOGE: Since when is saving taxpayers’ money a bad thing?

By Guy Ciarrocchi 
Real Clear Wire

Democratic politicians, the Washington “swamp,” and the legacy media would all have you believe that not a penny can be safely cut from the national budget. Democrats are even sending paddleboard messages to protest the cuts – the consequences would be unthinkable, they allege.

It’s theater of the absurd: performance art and virtue signaling from Democrats who really care only about preserving the swamp and its prerogatives. Most Americans have a better idea of what’s at stake: our tax dollars, controlling inflation, and making some progress in fighting our monumental national debt.

The federal government spent $6.8 trillion in fiscal year 2024. That represents an astounding increase of 10% from just the year before—a total of $617 billion.

Thing about that: 10% growth in one year!

With spending like that, it’s no wonder that the budget deficit for 2024 was $1.83 trillion. Our national debt has now reached $36.55 trillion, with interest compounding daily. (To make matters even worse, we primarily borrow from the Chinese, who are buying our Treasury bills.)

No one can truly comprehend such staggering figures, but the real-world effects are more graspable. Out-of-control spending causes inflation. Far too much of the money is squandered, lost, stolen, or used poorly. The size of the federal government bureaucracy grows ever larger, as do its payrolls. For all its enormity, our government isn’t very effective. Bureaucracy stifles businesses trying to operate. And too much spending leads to higher interest rates.

The Trump-appointed, Elon Musk-lead DOGE – the Department of Government Efficiency – is tackling the spending head-on. In just a few weeks, DOGE has uncovered massive levels of waste, fraud, and abuse: Social Security payments to recipients as old as 200; millions spent for condoms for the Congolese in Africa; money to promote DEI in developing countries; tax dollars going to nonprofits with connections to members of Congress and their family members; and corrupt USAID programs spending money on dubious or self-destructive projects, including supporting Hamas.

Amid all this waste, Trump authorized DOGE to offer eight months’ severance pay for federal workers. Democrats howled, of course, protesting that this was illegal, or at least unfair. Instead of sharing the shock and outrage that so many taxpayers feel, they make absurd arguments.

If you reduce the National Park Service, they say, people will get lost; or they’ll get locked inside bathrooms. If you try to get rid of the fraud or abuse in Medicaid – such as paying able-bodied single men benefits – people will die on the street. If America doesn’t send condoms to the Congo, people will die. And so on.

Most Americans understand, though, that the federal government is too big, too inefficient, wastes money, invites abuse and corruption, and often enforces policies and programs that actually harm Americans.

Yes, some agencies may be fairly well run, and yes, many public servants are experienced and dutiful – but many work at agencies that are wasteful, harmful, or no longer needed.

Such agencies should close or be reconfigured.

Yes, some good people are losing their jobs through no fault of their own. This is unfortunate and nothing to gloat about. But it’s also part of life and the working world: it happens in every other sector. It happens when factories close. It happened to those working to build the Keystone Pipeline. It happened to the coal miners and factory workers whom Hillary Clinton told to “learn how to code.”

Don’t believe all the doomsday hype. Fact is, a generation ago, President Bill Clinton had his own version of DOGE. He cut spending, merged agencies, and caused many people to lose their jobs as government was streamlined. Back then, the media portrayed the effort as a success.

Ditto for President Barack Obama. He got only praise when he tried to improve efficiencies. No horror stories about planes that would crash, hurricanes going untracked, campers locked in toilets. No laid-off federal workers shamelessly used as media props.

America is drowning in debt. We are selfishly forcing our grandkids’ tax burden ever higher and fueling inflation. The wasteful spending alone could fund Pennsylvania’s state government for a decade.

Taxpayers have been abused for too long. Many Americans genuinely in need of help have gone without. Democrats would serve all Americans by helping right the ship, protect taxpayers, and make government work. The media would do well to help explain the problem and stop exaggerating the harm.

The system is broken. DOGE is one part of the answer. The time for partisan politics, TikTok videos, and “paddle” protests is over.

Democrats should lead, follow, or get out of the way.