Some Suggestions for DOGE

Powerful, Practical, Plausible Recommendations for DOGE

There is now an unprecedented opportunity that Critical Thinkers (that’s us) should take advantage of.

Arguably, for the first time in modern US history, the federal government is: 1) open to making radical changes in government agencies, 2) has the right political perspective, and 3) is receptive to citizen inputs.

Yes, there are always reasons to be skeptical — but the upside is so great that we should assume the best, and offer assistance. For those who are incurably cynical and say no, then you are foregoing your future rights to complain!

I’m polling my Critical Thinking Substack readers as to their best ideas regarding the Department of Health and Human Services (FDA, CDC, etc.), Department of Education (DOEd), Department of Energy (DOE), EPA, and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). [If you have any good connections with the upper echelon of any of these federal Departments, please email me.]

—> Let’s say that this is the scenario: a) we are given five (5) minutes for a face-to-face meeting with the Secretary of each of these Departments/ Agencies, and b) we are asked to limit our suggestions to three (3) items. Due to these rules, we need to filter out many ideas so that we are left with just three (3) succinct, important, doable recommendations.

This is the fourth in my series of commentaries to each of the above-mentioned Departments/Agencies. Below are my suggested three (3) recommendations for the DOGE. (Elon has clearly stepped up already — so kudos to him.) Critically Thinking readers can constructively weigh in with support or any improvements on what I’ve proposed in the Comments below...

We’ll then try to get the end product to the new DOGE Secretary, Elon Musk.

Recommendation #1 —

Certain organizations partially (or fully) supported by taxpayer dollars, are not working in the best interest of the taxpayer. In those cases, the recommendation is to:

1 - Identify some of the more serious actions they are taking that are against the interests of citizens and the country.

2 - Send them a written notice that gives them one (1) month to fix these deviations.

3 - Require documented evidence that their written policies have been changed so that these improvements will be permanent.

4 - If both 2 & 3 are not done satisfactorily, then federal government funding will be reduced or eliminated.

Some well-known candidates are: NPR, PBS, Planned Parenthood, ALA (“billions”), NREL (part of DOE), etc.

Let’s take one example: the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Their mission statement says: “From research to deployment, NREL's mission-driven work is leading the clean energy transition. To secure our vision for the future, we've set goals to address three primary threats facing humanity: climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss.”

Although marketed as a Science-based organization, almost everything there screams politics. For example, there is no such thing as “clean energy,” and if there was, wind and solar would be way down on the list.

Another example is that although they heavily endorse wind energy as a “solution” for climate change, no Scientific study has ever concluded that wind energy saves a consequential amount of CO2. On the other hand, there are multiple Scientific studies that have concluded that wind energy makes Climate Change worse! (See here for some examples.)

Over time NREL has evolved into a marketing arm of the wind industry, whereas it should be an objective source of Scientific information regarding the pros and cons of renewables. That’s what their employers (US citizens) are paying them to do. NREL either needs to either be gutted and then started over, or just eliminated.

[We need to reduce our contribution to the UN as this also falls under this category. Fortunately, Trump withdrew from WHO, a good idea. Similarly, we need to have MUCH more careful oversight over Foreign Aid to make sure that every dollar goes towards the best interest of the taxpayer and the country.]

Recommendation #2 —

Change/Remove Federal Regulations that Unnecessarily Increase the Costs for Small Businesses and Consumers. The idea is that if small businesses and consumers do better economically, the federal government also does better economically. The prime place to look is where political science has replaced Real Science. For example:

— Remove Ethanol from gas (ethanol causes numerous major side effects from increased food costs to degraded engine performance);

— Reverse the coolant gas restrictions on HVACs to A2L (this is supposedly about climate change, but the cost is significant and there are new risks);

— Stop electrification of everything (esp. trucks, busses, etc.), etc.

Few of these have the impact of a trillion dollars of immediate savings, but all of them have a major net positive benefit on the US economy and on the pocketbooks of citizens.

Recommendation #3 —

A different tack for DOGE to take is to look carefully at what caused the waste and misspending in the first place, and address the causations. Put another way, unless some serious systemic changes are made the wastes will likely come back in the near future.

The most fertile area to examine and fix is the federal legislature. New laws/regulations need to be passed, like:

— Mandatory two (2) term limit for all federal legislators. (A shorter time in power means that they are less likely to be unduly influenced.)

— Fix Congress’ Worst Problem: make it mandatory that at least 25% of the advisory staff of federal legislators be seniors.

— Establish MUCH tougher rules for lobbyists — a significant cause of much of government waste.

— In the same vein, tighten up the IRS rules for 501C3 organizations, such that they can not be advocates of political policies vs lobbyists for political policies — which should be considered as being equivalent. [E.g. the American Library Association heavily advocates for DEI and against books being age-restricted — but due to current loose rules, it seems like that political activity does not count as lobbying in their 501C3 status.]

— Eliminate all legislative earmarks.

— Grant the President limited (e.g., subject to 2/3rd override by Congress) line-item veto rights to slash any new spending project.

— Legislative spending can not exceed revenue (as it has for some 20 years)! (This CATO Report is a good discussion of what needs to be done to balance the Federal Budget.)

— All bills should be on one topic only — no omnibus bills.

— Limit all new federal laws to 50 pages in length.

— Eliminate pensions and most benefits for Senators, Congresspeople, and Presidents after they leave office.

The Bottom Line —

There are so many opportunities to cut back on wasted money or to more effectively use taxpayer funds, that the initial challenge is Where to start?

News reports indicate that Musk has a team of 15± young engineers as his point guard. If true, I hope that he adds other talents (e.g., scientists, CPAs, attorneys), as well as a healthy balance of experienced seniors to the mix.

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PS — Some other worthwhile DOGE suggestions:

a) The GAO (Government Accountability Office) puts out periodic good reports that identify federal waste (like here). Pay close attention to their ideas. Pick off low-hanging fruit, like this.

b) Twenty-Five Ways to Cut Government Spending has some fine ideas.

c) DOD needs MUCH better financial management. (E.g., see Rand Reports for specific examples — like here.)

d) Mandate a 5% employee reduction for ALL departments, every 10 years. (I used to work for a major military subcontractor: GE-AESD. Our company was forced to do this due to the politics of military contracts. Although it was sometimes painful, in the end it was actually a blessing, as it was a forced opportunity to get rid of dead wood.)

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