Cleaning the Swamp Trump Style

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the termination of some 1,350 State Department employees – mostly domestically based – in pursuit of downsizing and efficiency. And right along side of that, the United States Supreme Court lifted a lower court injunction barring Education Secretary Linda McMahon from implementing the termination of over 1,800 Education Department employees – again in the name of downsizing and efficiency.

Call it what you like, this is, in fact, President Donald Trump cleaning the swamp. Let me explain.

When former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took office in 2009 there were approximately 58,073 full time employees at the State Department. By 2013 when she left, there were 70,704. Nearly a twenty-two percent increase. Like the Clinton Foundation it was a place to park partisan loyalist using other people’s money. The net effect is that the State Department became one of the most partisan agencies in the federal government. It is overwhelmingly liberal Democrats – a high percentage of whom are educated at Yale and other Ivy League schools – to ensure a monolithic adherence to the fifty-year failed policies of appeasement interspersed with high cost, but pointless wars, in the Middle East, to the benefit of the military industrial complex. So when someone does the demographic study of those discharged by Mr. Rubio, you are likely to find that a disproportionate number are Democrats, Ivy League educated and previously employed by the Clintons either in President Clinton’s administration, the Clinton foundation, and/or the Democrat Central Committee. Forget about the nonsense that civil service requirements were designed to result in a non-partisan body of employees. Every politician and bureaucrat* knows how to pay lip service to the civil service requirements while ensuring that those chosen are political adherents.

Among those to be discharged you will likely find a high percentage of those who abused their positions in support of Ms. Clinton or in opposition to President Donald Trump. Tough. There will be some innocents swept up in the firing but not nearly enough. In point of fact, if you want the State Department to be reflective of an administration, you should eliminate the civil service protections for all but the clerical pools.

Ms. McMahon’s task is much more Herculean. The United States Department of Education (DOE) was created in 1979 by then President Jimmy Carter (D). It has grown to approximately 4200 full time employees by the end of 2024 and countless employees who work on a part time basis and/ or are dependent on the department for their income. It’s budget and budget growth far exceed its growth in employees. By 2024 the DOE budget had grown to $90 Billion with no visible improvement in student achievement. The ability to use those vast sums to buy the loyalty of the hundreds of contactors works even better for the partisans of the teachers unions who run the department – no pesky civil servant rules, no record keeping, and no loyalty problems – do what you’re told or lose your contract or grant. The fact that Ms. McMahon will now move forward to terminate some 1800 people is a good start for an agency, but it is just a start. It is the money the Department controls that is more important. While the firing impacts forty-two percent of the workforce, the new budget only reduces expenditures by $500 million – a piddling 0.5 percent reduction. The political leanings of those contracting with the Department is not impacted. Stripping away forty-two percent of the work force will substantially impact the authority of the teachers unions – one of the most virulent opponents to Mr. Trump and his administration. Again, it’s a good start but you have to deal with the remaining sixty percent of the employees and more importantly reduce and redirect the massive expenditures to put more power in the local elements of the educational process. The final days of the 1800 that will be terminated is marked by hand drawn messages much like grade school students at the end of classes. There is an aura that the job losses are only temporary and will be restored the next time a Democrat gains the presidency and that is exactly what will happen. It is why that it is insufficient to simply reduce headcount. It is necessary to dismantle any vestiges of federal (teacher unions) control. You will have to destroy the educational department to save education.

The State Department and the Education Department are among the primary bastions of Democrat loyalties. But it doesn’t stop there. The Justice Department and the Intelligence Community need the same kind of intention and headcount reductions.

And stop worrying about whether the headcount reductions are so large that the effected agencies will be unable to work efficiently. These are not the last decisions to ever be made. In fact, these decisions should be reviewed annually and additional adds or cuts should be made. And when there adds to be made they should be populated by those who are committed to carry out the Administrations goals – not impede them.

There was a monograph published several years ago entitled Muscle Build the Organization. It was authored by Andrall Pearson, former head of Pepsico and and a professor at Harvard. In its simplest terms, and most who read it and attempted to apply it never got beyond its simplest terms, senior management of an organization were encouraged to regularly terminate the bottom ten plus percentage of a workforce and replace it with new hires – presumably better educated, more enthusiastic about succeeding and more willing to work harder. While I have never believed in its efficacy in private enterprise, it might be a good idea to apply to government at all levels to improve performance.

Regardless. If you want to Drain the Swamp you have to eliminate the inhabitants. Congratulations to Mr. Rubio, Ms. McMahon, and the other Cabinet members on the beginnings of a difficult task.

________________________________

*It’s much like the pro forma public hearings on proposed government rules. That final decision was made long before the hearings were held and the government bureaucrats are just going through the motions.

The post Cleaning the Swamp Trump Style first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.