May the Shutdown Go On Forever

It's hard to read the anonymous posting on the Daily Caller from a "senior Trump official" without coming to the conclusion that the current partial government shutdown should remain shut essentially forever. (It won't. I know. But hear me out.) Putting aside whatever pro-administration bias the author might have, the article confirms everything one suspects or knows about bureaucracies, especially government ones.

They do nothing that warrants punishment and nothing of external value. That is their workday: errands for the sake of errands — administering, refining, following and collaborating on process. “Process is your friend” is what delusional civil servants tell themselves. Even senior officials must gain approval from every rank across their department, other agencies and work units for basic administrative chores.

Well, it's not as bad as what one former Justice Department attorney told me about life inside the DOJ -- that under-utilized $200K/yr lawyers sit there all day looking at porn on their computers -- but it's bad enough. This is the civil service from time immemorial. Eventually most government agencies, federal and state, resemble the Department of Motor Vehicles. You sit down and wait your turn until some bored, often self-loathing bureaucrat deigns to speak with you about your license renewal or whatever. And all your papers had better be in order or go to the end of the line. It's the way of the bureaucrat--spiteful and depressed. What incentive do they have to be different? You don't have to be a Trump supporter or even a libertarian to know that. You just have to exist in the world.

Yes, yes, I know National Park rangers are great guys and gals, Smokey, and it's not all like that. And, yes, I'd prefer it if some museums were opened. (The Johnny Cash Museum here in Nashville seems to be operating at a profit. Maybe they should try that.) And, yes, it may seem callous to advocate continuing the shutdown in the face of a fair number of people going without salaries (temporarily -- they always get them in the end), but, with unemployment numbers at an all-time low, this might be a time to examine alternatives. Being on the government payroll isn't the be all and the end all of life. It may in fact be a dead end, not just for the country and its taxpayers, but for the workers themselves.

These days, private businesses large and small are actively looking for new employees, not, as is often the case, the other way around. Former government workers might not always be the best prospects but many had strong enough resumés to get their Washington jobs in the first place. All they really need is to be weaned of the bad habits gleaned by working in a bureaucracy. It's a chance for them to contribute to society, rather than sit in a government office waiting for the next coffee break or elongating the one they're already on. It's a much more psychologically sound way to live. "Change/Opportunity" as they say in the I Ching.

Social welfare programs (including social security)
Pensions for government employees (including military)

These are some things that would be very difficult to cut — although a discussion about finding areas for reduction wouldn’t be a bad idea.

But we have hundreds of thousands of civil servants sitting in cubicles dreaming up rules and regulations to make your life more difficult. We really should send these people home for good. Probably a 20% cut in the federal budget could be made with almost no pain.

The federal government today is mostly doing stuff that it isn’t supposed to do.

When I was finishing up grad school, one of my friends took a job in gov't. He told about how his boss came by one day and told him to "let you IN BOX stack up" for the next several days. In other words, don't do any work. He later found out that his office was to have a "surprise" visit by the GAO. His boss then pointed out to the GOA officer how he didn't have enough staff to process the workload, which was a total falsity. As a result, the guy got 3 new workers a few months later.

Moral: Every office in DC has more people than it needs because your status in DC is determined by home many people you control. That's the path to promotion.

Solution? What would happen if Trump came out and said:

By Executive Order, as of tomorrow morning, every office of the Federal Gov't with the exception of the Military, will have 10% fewer funds at their disposal than they do today. I expect every manager to provide the same or better service than they currently provide. If you cannot do that, I will find someone who can. Have a nice day.

Since it does not involve additional funding, I don't see how it could be prevented.

I live in Northern Virginia. Many, many friends and neighbors work for the government (including my own husband.) While some work in defense and obviously, that is necessary, many work in OPM, SEC type stuff. Lawyers, HR stuff. These are six figure salaries with benefits galore. Zero stress. Less than 8 hr days. Paid exercise time while on the clock. More vacation days than they can even use.... It is a joke! I’ve seen many Facebook memes and “thank you for your service” stuff going around. And my first reaction is... why am I thanking you for your “service” for a cushy, well-paid job with zero accountability? Is it really such a cross to bear? We just had a big snow here this weekend and I worked from home. All day was stress, frantic email checking etc.. not worth it to stay home, should have just gone in the office. My husband (whose job looks pretty important on paper) never even considered checking an email or making a phone call once the gov’t announced closures on Sunday night. Another stress-free day for those lucky enough to work in la-la land! Yes, I’m pretty jealous. And yes, I’m annoyed at having to cow-tow and “thank” all these “self-less” gov’t workers that are inconvenienced one time while reaping the benefits of a sweet gig for a lifetime.

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