I can’t do this right now. I have lost my nerve. I have fallen into despair. Lady Carlson, the professional organizer with Together Louisiana who I co-taught the OLLI class “It’s Not Hopeless in Louisiana Anymore”, called me yesterday to work on trying to defeat Amendment 3 to the Louisiana Constitution (deals with juvenile justice). I told her I did not want to do it. Why? “Because its hopeless – it will be a total waste of my time and will only increase my despair.
The despair comes from watching our institutions of government and our long-sustained policies through many administrations being destroyed before our eyes. And so many people I know are gleefully cheering as it happens. And I get why they are cheering. The Pew survey I have linked to several times has shown that public trust in the federal government to “Do the Right Thing” has, over the past 75 years, fallen from nearly 80% of Americans to less than 20% by end of Biden’s term (same level it was during Trump’s first term.) So if a significant majority of Americans – especially those whose team now holds ALL the power, believe the federal government, as structured and staffed, will not do the right thing, then why not destroy it? I would be a tad more optimistic if there was some plan laid out of what the new phoenix system will look like and why it will be better. From what I have heard from the two key players (Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk), first we destroy everything and then we figure out how to put something better in its place.
Back in the days when 80% of Americans believed the American government would do the right thing, the people who carried out the functions of government were mainly professional government employees. They were commonly referred to as “public servants”. They were people who studied and worked to become the best they could be so that they would be able to deliver meritorious service and would be given more responsibility and rewards as they did so. It is not presidents and his political appointees who make the government work, it is these professional public servants who are now deemed as evil bureaucrats within the Deep State that are being encouraged to quit in mass.
There is constant pressure placed on these public servants to bend the rules in a way that benefits civilians with money and power (ie fraud and corruption.) So former Congresses and Administrations have worked together to put in place systems to prevent this. Key players in that system are Inspector Generals who are assigned to monitor and police the various agencies. Within the past week, 17 IG’s have been fired. Meanwhile, the single civilian who was under the most investigations for majority violations and conflicts of interest is now essentially in charge of inspecting all government institutions and firing whoever displeases him. Etc. etc. etc.
Had Vladimir Putin launched a surprise nuclear first strike against the United States, with its main objective to cripple our national government, I doubt it would have been more destructive than what this second Trump Administration is doing.
So, for the time being, it would be farcical and dishonest of me to present a scenario wherein I can envision long term benefits for America resulting from what is now underway. I do know for an indisputable fact, an organization is only as good as the people who work for it, no matter who the leader is. Sometimes, really great leaders can inspire mediocre people to improve themselves and their contributions to their organization’s mission. I have yet to see one cabinet level person nominated who has the proven expertise to do that. The common denominator among them seems to be an ideology to demoralize their professional employees and destroy the agencies they have been appointed to administer.
So, for the time being, I am putting this series on hold and upping the number of toddies I drink at the end of each day.
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