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The Government Shutdown Smoking Out The Resistance

Acadia

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I found this missive very interesting. I've never worked for the government, but understand they are generally viewed as redundant, wasteful and even slothful. This sounds so much worse.


I just don't see ever getting rid of all these unnecessary workers.


https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/14/smoke-out-resistance/


The Daily Caller is taking the rare step of publishing this anonymous op-ed at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose career would be jeopardized by its disclosure. We believe publishing this essay anonymously is the only way to deliver an important perspective to our readers. We invite you to submit a question about the essay or our vetting process here.

As one of the senior officials working without a paycheck, a few words of advice for the president’s next move at shuttered government agencies: lock the doors, sell the furniture, and cut them down.

Federal employees are starting to feel the strain of the shutdown. I am one of them. But for the sake of our nation, I hope it lasts a very long time, till the government is changed and can never return to its previous form.

The lapse in appropriations is more than a battle over a wall. It is an opportunity to strip wasteful government agencies for good.

On an average day, roughly 15 percent of the employees around me are exceptional patriots serving their country. I wish I could give competitive salaries to them and no one else. But 80 percent feel no pressure to produce results. If they don’t feel like doing what they are told, they don’t.

Why would they? We can’t fire them. They avoid attention, plan their weekend, schedule vacation, their second job, their next position — some do this in the same position for more than a decade. (RELATED: EPA Employees Who Watched Porn, Harassed Women And Got Promoted)

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.

Process is what we serve, process keeps us safe, process is our core value. It takes a lot of people to maintain the process. Process provides jobs. In fact, there are process experts and certified process managers who protect the process. Then there are the 5 percent with moxy (career managers). At any given time they can change, clarify or add to the process — even to distort or block policy counsel for the president.

Saboteurs peddling opinion as research, tasking their staff on pet projects or pitching wasteful grants to their friends. Most of my career colleagues actively work against the president’s agenda. This means I typically spend about 15 percent of my time on the president’s agenda and 85 percent of my time trying to stop sabotage, and we have no power to get rid of them. Until the shutdown.

Due to the lack of funding, many federal agencies are now operating more effectively from the top down on a fraction of their workforce, with only select essential personnel serving national security tasks. One might think this is how government should function, but bureaucracies operate from the bottom up — a collective of self-generated ideas. Ideas become initiatives, formalize into offices, they seek funds from Congress and become bureaus or sub-agencies, and maybe one day grow to be their own independent agency, like ours. The nature of a big administrative bureaucracy is to grow to serve itself. I watch it and fight it daily. (RELATED: Remember When Obama And Clinton Shut Down Government For Their Own Pet Projects?) con't...
 
con't

When the agency is full, employees held liable for poor performance respond with threats, lawsuits, complaints and process in at least a dozen offices, taking years of mounting paperwork with no fear of accountability, extending their careers, while no real work is done. Do we succumb to such extortion? Yes. We pay them settlements, we waive bad reviews, and we promote them.

Many government agencies have adopted the position that more complaints are good because it shows inclusion in, you guessed it, the process. When complaints come, it is cheaper to pay them off than to hold public servants accountable. The result: People accused of serious offenses are not charged, and self-proclaimed victims are paid by you, the American taxpayer.

The message to federal supervisors is clear. Maintain the status quo, or face allegations. Many federal employees truly believe that doing tasks more efficiently and cutting out waste, by closing troubled programs instead of expanding them, “is morally wrong,” as one cried to me.

I get it. These are their pets. It is tough to put them down and let go, and many resist. This phenomenon was best summed up by a colleague who said, “The goal in government is to do nothing. If you try to get things done, that’s when you will run into trouble.”

But President Trump can end this abuse. Senior officials can reprioritize during an extended shutdown, focus on valuable results and weed out the saboteurs. We do not want most employees to return, because we are working better without them. Sure, we empathize with families making tough financial decisions, like mine, and just like private citizens who have to find other work and bring competitive value every day, while paying more than a third of their salary in federal taxes.

President Trump has created more jobs in the private sector than the furloughed federal workforce. Now that we are shut down, not only are we identifying and eliminating much of the sabotage and waste, but we are finally working on the president’s agenda.


President Trump does not need Congress to address the border emergency, and yes, it is an emergency. Billions upon billions of hard-earned tax dollars are still being dumped into foreign aid programs every year that do nothing for America’s interest or national security. The president does not need congressional funding to deconstruct abusive agencies who work against his agenda. This is a chance to effect real change, and his leverage grows stronger every day the shutdown lasts.

The president should add to his demands, including a vote on all of his political nominees in the Senate. Send the career appointees back. Many are in the 5 percent of saboteurs and resistance leaders. (RELATED: New Facts Indicate Mueller Destroyed Evidence, Obstructed Justice)


A word of caution: To be a victory, this shutdown must be different than those of the past and should achieve lasting disruption with two major changes, or it will hurt the president.

The first thing we need out of this is better security, particularly at the southern border. Our founders envisioned a free market night watchman state, not the bungled bloated bureaucracy our government has become. But we have to keep the uniformed officers paid, which is an emergency. Ideally, continue a resolution to pay the essential employees only, if they are truly working on national security. Furloughed employees should find other work, never return and not be paid.

Secondly, we need savings for taxpayers. If this fight is merely rhetorical bickering with Nancy Pelosi, we all lose, especially the president. But if it proves that government is better when smaller, focusing only on essential functions that serve Americans, then President Trump will achieve something great that Reagan was only bold enough to dream.

The president’s instincts are right. Most Americans will not miss non-essential government functions. A referendum to end government plunder must happen. Wasteful government agencies are fighting for relevance but they will lose. Now is the time to deliver historic change by cutting them down forever.
[/I]
The author is a senior official in the Trump administration.
 
Not just anonymous sources, but an anonymous opinion/editorial piece..........in a day or so you will be screaming about a cross-aisle anonymous source........

The Daily Caller is taking the rare step of publishing this anonymous op-ed at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose career would be jeopardized by its disclosure.
 
I found this missive very interesting. I've never worked for the government

And therefore you find this op-ed piece by someone whose only employment has been as a senior official, compelling.
Since we don't know who this senior official is, it's possible that until they were hired by Trump, THEY TOO had "never worked for the government", as Trump seems to prefer picking sympathetic ideologues from the private sector who are interested in privatizing much or ALL of government.

In the meantime, you may want to go do a search of government services which are now or will eventually be impacted by the shutdown. If you believe that we don't need a Centers for Disease Control or any of the research done for them, or FDA food inspections, or TSA screenings, or the Department of Justice (yes, it too is closed) then obviously you have a different view of government than I do.

Carry on in your blissful ignorance, your confirmation bias is clear.
GOD FORBID that you might ever learn that some government is actually pretty efficient and also NECESSARY, it might ruin your day.
 
There will be no negotiations with hostage takers. At this point, even people who weren't opposed to the idea of more wall building are deciding that Trump's injury to ordinary working people and the economy due to his hostage move is enough to harden their resistance, not soften it.

If we give in to hostage taking, we can expect more and bigger hostages. No way.
There will be NO WALL for Trump...EVER.
 
And therefore you find this op-ed piece by someone whose only employment has been as a senior official, compelling.
Since we don't know who this senior official is, it's possible that until they were hired by Trump, THEY TOO had "never worked for the government", as Trump seems to prefer picking sympathetic ideologues from the private sector who are interested in privatizing much or ALL of government.

In the meantime, you may want to go do a search of government services which are now or will eventually be impacted by the shutdown. If you believe that we don't need a Centers for Disease Control or any of the research done for them, or FDA food inspections, or TSA screenings, or the Department of Justice (yes, it too is closed) then obviously you have a different view of government than I do.

Carry on in your blissful ignorance, your confirmation bias is clear.
GOD FORBID that you might ever learn that some government is actually pretty efficient and also NECESSARY, it might ruin your day.

Wow, someone's triggered! I think I'll give more weight to a Senior Official in the government than a Trump hater.
 
There will be no negotiations with hostage takers. At this point, even people who weren't opposed to the idea of more wall building are deciding that Trump's injury to ordinary working people and the economy due to his hostage move is enough to harden their resistance, not soften it.

If we give in to hostage taking, we can expect more and bigger hostages. No way.
There will be NO WALL for Trump...EVER.
Must be great to be a leftist. Rules for thee, but not for me.
Is that why Obama released terrorists from Gitmo and flew a plane packed with money into Iran?
 
There will be no negotiations with hostage takers. At this point, even people who weren't opposed to the idea of more wall building are deciding that Trump's injury to ordinary working people and the economy due to his hostage move is enough to harden their resistance, not soften it.

If we give in to hostage taking, we can expect more and bigger hostages. No way.
There will be NO WALL for Trump...EVER.

You seem to not understand that the victims of your 'resistance' are the very working people you claim to wish to help. But thats liberalism in a nutshell isnt it.
 
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There will be no negotiations with hostage takers. At this point, even people who weren't opposed to the idea of more wall building are deciding that Trump's injury to ordinary working people and the economy due to his hostage move is enough to harden their resistance, not soften it.

If we give in to hostage taking, we can expect more and bigger hostages. No way.
There will be NO WALL for Trump...EVER.

Now is as good a time as any to get the “dog to quit crapping in the house.”
 
There will be no negotiations with hostage takers. At this point, even people who weren't opposed to the idea of more wall building are deciding that Trump's injury to ordinary working people and the economy due to his hostage move is enough to harden their resistance, not soften it.

If we give in to hostage taking, we can expect more and bigger hostages. No way.
There will be NO WALL for Trump...EVER.

yeah last thing us dems want is to give trump money to protect our borders and our citizens. If we do that it may actually work. We cant have that. No its much better to let our citizens be murdered and our women raped over supporting our nations laws and borders.
 
Not just anonymous sources, but an anonymous opinion/editorial piece..........in a day or so you will be screaming about a cross-aisle anonymous source........

The Daily Caller is taking the rare step of publishing this anonymous op-ed at the request of the author, a senior official in the Trump administration whose identity is known to us and whose career would be jeopardized by its disclosure.

Riiiiiiiiiight, because you know me so well. Remember that anonymous letter from within the WH about the adult in the room. You Trump haters ate that **** right up. This piece isn't making any false statements. It's putting forth thoughts which can inform people as they view the shutdown.
But, there, there blah blah blah soothing words.
 
Must be great to be a leftist. Rules for thee, but not for me.
Is that why Obama released terrorists from Gitmo and flew a plane packed with money into Iran?

ouch! This is where they toss out the ole start an obama thread if you wanna talk about that. Its not like they can defend it. Thats exactly what Obama did.
 
yeah last thing us dems want is to give trump money to protect our borders and our citizens. If we do that it may actually work. We cant have that. No its much better to let our citizens be murdered and our women raped over supporting our nations laws and borders.

You've nailed it. We know walls work. The evidence is incontrovertible. We know Democrats supported walls/fences/border security and voted to fund it. Now, because it's Trump's border, they really don't want Trump to go touting how much the border he put everything on the line for actually worked.
They would rather import their dedicated dem-voting underclass in the form of illegal aliens than serve and protect Americans.
 
Riiiiiiiiiight, because you know me so well. Remember that anonymous letter from within the WH about the adult in the room. You Trump haters ate that **** right up. This piece isn't making any false statements. It's putting forth thoughts which can inform people as they view the shutdown.
But, there, there blah blah blah soothing words.

I’m thinking this “senior official” trumps your “senior official,” as far as “knowing you,” all I have to go on is your 5200 posts, so yeah you are known here......
 
I’m thinking this “senior official” trumps your “senior official,” as far as “knowing you,” all I have to go on is your 5200 posts, so yeah you are known here......

Nah, you don't know me. But if that's all ya got on the subject...
 
Wishful thinking...
 
I dont know...I think the funniest part in all of this has been watching idiot leftists that have supported walls and fences for DECADES and cheered wildly while democrat presidents BUILT the ****ing things now stomping their feet like pathetic small minded children shrieking WALLS DONT DO NO GOOD!!!

As to the number of government workers...yes...we should review ALL government positions and it shouldnt take a shut down to do this. We should re-assess if we need redundant systems at the state and fed level and we should wherever possible return responsibility (and thus reduce tax burdens) to the states where those burdens belong. Some areas should actually be built up. Some should be reduced. Our system of contracting should be revised. All of it should be looked at including the DoD.
 
You've nailed it. We know walls work. The evidence is incontrovertible. We know Democrats supported walls/fences/border security and voted to fund it. Now, because it's Trump's border, they really don't want Trump to go touting how much the border he put everything on the line for actually worked.
They would rather import their dedicated dem-voting underclass in the form of illegal aliens than serve and protect Americans.
Of COURSE they work. Of COURSE democrats have supported them. Watching their hypocrisy now has just reached the point of hilarity.
 
You seem to not understand that the victims of your 'resistance' are the very working people you claim to wish to help. But thats liberalism in a nutshell isnt it.

Trump: Unless I get what I want NOW I'LL SHUT IT ALL DOWN!!!

Trump lemmings: Why aren't Democrats just giving Trump everything he wants whenever he demands it? They're hurting the country!!
 
Must be great to be a leftist. Rules for thee, but not for me.
Is that why Obama released terrorists from Gitmo and flew a plane packed with money into Iran?

My impression is that the money was theirs. And of course the “terrorists” had not been charged, tried or convicted. Pesky thing, that Constitution. Trump should read it.
 
My impression is that the money was theirs. And of course the “terrorists” had not been charged, tried or convicted. Pesky thing, that Constitution. Trump should read it.

What timing! An plane packed with money lands and whaddaya know, the plane with hostages takes off right after!
What a gulla bull.
 
Oh yea...the Federal government has just been running like clockwork since Trump was elected. He has already destroyed the FDA and the Dept of Agriculture. Foodborne illnesses were up 96% in 2018 over the 2016 numbers. Took Trump less than a year to destroy those two agencies and the following year for the numbers to start to tumble in.

Who the heck do you numbskulls think inspects our food? So those two agencies were operating like crap before the shutdown and lets not here any nonsense about their "doing better" since the shutdown. They are cutting food inspections. So unless you New Right ghouls have figured out a way to live without eating you're as screwed as the rest of us.

Farmers can't get critical winter reports so they know what seed to buy and what fertilizers they will need for the next year's planting. They have no idea what to plant. Nicely done Donald you POS.
 
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I dont know...I think the funniest part in all of this has been watching idiot leftists that have supported walls and fences for DECADES and cheered wildly while democrat presidents BUILT the ****ing things now stomping their feet like pathetic small minded children shrieking WALLS DONT DO NO GOOD!!!

Cheered wildly... :roll: Don't you ever get tired of dumb stereotypes?

As to the number of government workers...yes...we should review ALL government positions and it shouldnt take a shut down to do this. We should re-assess if we need redundant systems at the state and fed level and we should wherever possible return responsibility (and thus reduce tax burdens) to the states where those burdens belong. Some areas should actually be built up. Some should be reduced. Our system of contracting should be revised. All of it should be looked at including the DoD.

Good idea. What were the lazy Republicans doing the last two years? If the GOP want to cut every department by half, fine, propose the cuts and pass them. The GOP didn't do that when they had the House and Senate, and instead we get anonymous op-eds after the Democrats win the House talking about "the Resistance" and using shutdowns to remake government, as if we're a dictatorship, not a constitutional republic with divided government, separation of powers.

What I find amusing is Daily Caller is publishing this extremely pro-Trump editorial while claiming knowing the name of the senior administration official who is touting the administration line is risking his career if his name was known. Is that you Stephen Miller? :doh
 
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