DOGE is hardly efficient

I am having a lot of trouble reconciling the political happenings we are seeing with the words used to describe them.

Consider the rapid-fire changes being made by Elon Musk and his team. Supposedly, he and his boss are following the conservative agenda outlined in Project 2025, a product of the conservative Heritage Foundation. However, the word “conservative” implies being slow and careful; so what we are seeing is anything but conservative.

Musk is proceeding in a scattershot way, closing agencies and firing people. This is justified as saving money. However, he has frequently found that he has gone too far and there is a need to reconstitute some of those agencies and try to re-hire employees.

In fact, in a cabinet meeting, Musk described occasionally reversing course as a characteristic of his approach. But from what I know of quality management practices, rework is absolutely the most expensive way to operate any enterprise.

So, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency is anything but efficient; and also it pursues a maximally costly way of saving money.

Have you heard the term “newspeak?”

Russ Lenth

North Liberty