Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are launching a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). It shouldn't be looking to improve government efficiency but value.
“Government is perfectly capable of doing this when it wants to. Our military is the best that has ever existed in history because an effective military matters to the people who make decisions. We have an amazing intelligence apparatus. We have a good court system and good financial systems because those things matter to those in power.”
I agree with government’s capability to do a good job in these areas, but for a different reason: those tasks, and a few others like transportation infrastructure and weights/measures standards, directly pertain to government’s legitimate mission and reason for its existence - to secure our unalienable rights.
When we expect government to go beyond that mission and intervene in areas that are more specific to the individual - personal finances, employment/career, health care, education … two problems become evident:
First, government operatives can’t - regardless of intent - reliably discern what a particular individual needs, nor the total impact of the intervention upon that individual and others affected by that effort … whether it actually is productive, ineffective/wasteful, or even counterproductive.
Second, it encourages ordinary folks to wait for government, in Flounderian trust, to intervene, thinking that government experts and funding will provide the best solution FOR them - neither taking the steps to protect themselves from needing the help at all and avoiding the effects of government myopia, nor stepping in and helping their neighbor when they are in a better position than government to actually help them, because they already “gave at the office”.
If we want an efficient and effective government, it has to focus on the task set that directly pertains to its legitimate mission: “to secure these rights”.
I agree that the title of the new department makes it likely that DOGE is based on assumptions that will lead to little fundamental change. We'll see.
While I seriously doubt that the second Trump administration will do anything like it, I think the best option is to reembrace federalism. A transfer of domestic programs from the federal government to the state government would solve so many problems. I wish Elon, Vivek, and Trump were more oriented along these lines.
I'm a fan of decentralization too. (The problem of course is undoing what was already done. I sometime fear politicians fall back on sending problems to the states to get off the hook for making the federal version work.)
I think you underestimate the depth of the mission that Musk and Ramaswamy are agreeing to. The government budget has never been probed and analyzed with the insight and technological tools that they will bring to the operation. I say let it rip, clear the red tape and give every wasted dollar some sunlight. The people will decide the value of their tax dollars and the value of those entrusted with managing it.
I'm all for trying, but having been in the machine a bit I don't think the process can work the way people outside the machine believe. The real problems are more difficult than just rooting out waste. It's about a total culture change. If you don't change the culture and the rules by which government operates, you can't cut yourself to the world people want.
The insight and technological tools that Musk and Ramaswamy are bringing to the operation are "look for things that sound dumb and call them dumb." Having sophisticated AI tools that tell them which line-items sound dumb might make them much faster at it than others, but at the end of the day the current state of AI is that it's really good at busywork (ie, doing what people already did) and not that good at coming up with outstanding new scientific breakthroughs.
AI is very good at copying what conventional wisdom says. What conventional wisdom says is the problem they're trying to eliminate. AI is just going to tell you what best practices that aren't working you should copy.
Someone forward this to Elon and Vivek
Your approach makes far too much sense to ever be implemented but 👍 for a great idea.
XXX
Hope over reason, always!
“Government is perfectly capable of doing this when it wants to. Our military is the best that has ever existed in history because an effective military matters to the people who make decisions. We have an amazing intelligence apparatus. We have a good court system and good financial systems because those things matter to those in power.”
I agree with government’s capability to do a good job in these areas, but for a different reason: those tasks, and a few others like transportation infrastructure and weights/measures standards, directly pertain to government’s legitimate mission and reason for its existence - to secure our unalienable rights.
When we expect government to go beyond that mission and intervene in areas that are more specific to the individual - personal finances, employment/career, health care, education … two problems become evident:
First, government operatives can’t - regardless of intent - reliably discern what a particular individual needs, nor the total impact of the intervention upon that individual and others affected by that effort … whether it actually is productive, ineffective/wasteful, or even counterproductive.
Second, it encourages ordinary folks to wait for government, in Flounderian trust, to intervene, thinking that government experts and funding will provide the best solution FOR them - neither taking the steps to protect themselves from needing the help at all and avoiding the effects of government myopia, nor stepping in and helping their neighbor when they are in a better position than government to actually help them, because they already “gave at the office”.
If we want an efficient and effective government, it has to focus on the task set that directly pertains to its legitimate mission: “to secure these rights”.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
https://thenayborhood.substack.com/p/cutting-to-the-chase
I agree that the title of the new department makes it likely that DOGE is based on assumptions that will lead to little fundamental change. We'll see.
While I seriously doubt that the second Trump administration will do anything like it, I think the best option is to reembrace federalism. A transfer of domestic programs from the federal government to the state government would solve so many problems. I wish Elon, Vivek, and Trump were more oriented along these lines.
I write more about my idea in this article:
https://frompovertytoprogress.substack.com/p/one-radical-reform-to-solve-all-our
Great article!
I'm a fan of decentralization too. (The problem of course is undoing what was already done. I sometime fear politicians fall back on sending problems to the states to get off the hook for making the federal version work.)
I think you underestimate the depth of the mission that Musk and Ramaswamy are agreeing to. The government budget has never been probed and analyzed with the insight and technological tools that they will bring to the operation. I say let it rip, clear the red tape and give every wasted dollar some sunlight. The people will decide the value of their tax dollars and the value of those entrusted with managing it.
I'm all for trying, but having been in the machine a bit I don't think the process can work the way people outside the machine believe. The real problems are more difficult than just rooting out waste. It's about a total culture change. If you don't change the culture and the rules by which government operates, you can't cut yourself to the world people want.
The insight and technological tools that Musk and Ramaswamy are bringing to the operation are "look for things that sound dumb and call them dumb." Having sophisticated AI tools that tell them which line-items sound dumb might make them much faster at it than others, but at the end of the day the current state of AI is that it's really good at busywork (ie, doing what people already did) and not that good at coming up with outstanding new scientific breakthroughs.
AI is very good at copying what conventional wisdom says. What conventional wisdom says is the problem they're trying to eliminate. AI is just going to tell you what best practices that aren't working you should copy.