Created January 20th, 2025. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has drastically changed the lives of the American population in the short time it’s been around. DOGE’s mission is to maximise government productivity, which on the surface sounds good. But looking into it tells a different story.
DOGE is currently run by Elon Musk, an individual not elected into power by US citizens or the Senate of the United States, but appointed by current acting president Donald Trump, which violates the constitution of the US. However the white house claims Elon is just an advisor who has no actual power, and not technically recognized as an employee. Despite this, actions taken by DOGE such as the restructuring of federal agencies imply Elon has a very influential role in the government. His role in the department is currently under judicial review.
Under the reign of Musk, DOGE has claimed to have discovered fraud in the government. Specifically he’s claimed to have found over 380 million dollars in false unemployment insurance claims, as well as fraud in other departments. However, not a single individual is yet to be charged with any of these findings, meaning one of two things. One: DOGE’s fraud claims are untruthful and at the very least exaggerated. Two: DOGE is pretty bad at their job. Either way, negligence on DOGE’s part is undeniable.
DOGE has access to the sensitive information of the US population. They are working with other US departments such as the US Treasury and the IRS to gain access to US citizens data. This may be normal for a US office to have access to such information. But it is very concerning considering that the department is run by an unelected official who owns one of the highest grossing social media companies of all time (X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter). The very notion that anyone can access this information without the approval of the US population themselves is completely unacceptable and should not be tolerated.
DOGE has taken drastic measures in the name of government efficiency, including laying off hundreds of thousands of government employees. About 1,300 people were laid off from the CDC, including entire departments such as the Division of Violence Prevention. The Department of Defense lost about 5,400 people causing a brief disruption before most employees were rehired. Losing over 6,000 members we have the Department of agriculture, making it difficult for agricultural inspections to be conducted effectively and without error, as well as the IRS causing delays in tax processing. By far the department that’s suffered the most is the US Agency for International Development. USAID lost over 83% of its departments, forcing drawbacks in our ability to provide foreign aid.
The worst part is that DOGE has potential to do outstanding things in the US. If we look back at similar projects in American history, we find the Keep Commision. The Keep Commission (formally known as the Committee on Department Methods) was established by Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. It was wildly successful, making the government more efficient with records, standard procedures, and more. The difference between Keep and DOGE is that Keep looked for solutions and implemented them while DOGE just took away jobs and money from the departments that didn’t need to lose money.
