Making the federal government more efficient is an idea whose time has come, but efficiency should not be confused with the idea of limited government. They are distinct as efficiency deals with the process of implementing the laws and policies of the federal government, while limited government is putting legal walls around what laws and policies the government passes and can enforce.
In his first term, President Donald Trump took action to streamline and upgrade federal management systems, and his creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) amplifies this effort.
The purpose statement of President Trump’s Executive Order establishing the DOGE firmly establishes the goal of making the federal government’s archaic systems more usable, manageable, and productive as it declares, “This Executive Order establishes the Department of Government Efficiency to implement the President’s DOGE Agenda, by modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.”
Needless to say, this further empowerment and emphasis will help transform a set of moribund and incompatible federal computer and software systems.
It is astonishing that many government computing platforms still operate off of Pentium-based computer systems that were cutting edge the last time the Dallas Cowboys played in a National Football Conference championship game.
This ancient system severely limits the federal government’s capacity to communicate between various agencies and analyze data across agency lines. Establishing a common intergovernmental communication system will cut costs and should improve the experience for Americans communicating with the federal government bureaucracy as a whole.
There are also some major cost savings opportunities that DOGE can potentially identify. Big ticket items like finding dead people who are currently collecting federal benefits or identifying the unlikely presence of hundreds of recipients who live at the same Post Office Box would finally deliver on the long staple of federal budgeting — ending waste, fraud and abuse — potentially saving taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars over time.
If allowed, it could also make certain that the fundamental one citizen-one vote principle that undergirds our election system is followed and enforceable in real-time. Accomplishing this would help reestablish trust that our nation’s election systems are honest and not rigged.
It is also hoped that DOGE will be allowed to pursue rooting out and identifying do-nothing contracts and grants so the President can end them.
But make no mistake: This is not limiting government. While it might allow some current federal and privately contracted jobs to be eliminated, limiting government is about restricting its size, scope, and reach, not how fast a phone call is returned.
Efficient government means maximally. Managing the government that our elected leaders create through their lawmaking ultimately provides the firewall for freedom.
This battle for limited government will not be won by achieving the admirable and necessary goal of making government work faster and, hopefully, less expensively. Winning the limited government battle will always depend on millions of citizens, Congress, the courts, and the President coming together to defend individual liberties and against federal usurpation of those rights.
And, of course, the potential downside of new efficient computer systems and integrated government databases is that they are nothing more than a tool; just like any machine, DOGE should ensure they are secured as much as possible against cyber threats and other abuses and safeguards put in place to stop bad actors — especially bad actors in the government. Remembering the aggressive and illegal persecution of tea party groups during President Barack Obama’s time in office using tax records or the targeting of Donald Trump over the past eight years using FISA should at least give some pause about a runaway government efficiency train.
Limiting government means putting political energy and know-how to work to ensure that it stays within its legal walls. Congress’ appropriations and oversight prerogatives, along with a strongly limited government President, such as Mr. Trump, would ensure that the efficient government doesn’t later become a train that runs over civil liberties.
It is time for limited government supporters to roll up our sleeves and press ahead to encourage Congress and the White House in their fight to continue rolling back regulations and shrinking the federal government’s footprint during this unique time in history.
While DOGE works overtime to identify and provide the information to the Trump team to stop waste, fraud, and abuse, the President’s separate hard fight for limiting government requires all of us to unwind the leviathan built over the past century.
— Rick Manning is president of Americans for Limited Government.
