Winfree writes in National Review on President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Washington is no stranger to lofty promises of reform.
Over the years, countless commissions and initiatives have been launched to rein in government inefficiency and waste, yet almost all of them have failed, and not for lack of good intentions. Blue-ribbon commissions are no match for the entrenched and influential constituencies that are created around every dollar the federal government spends.
President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), spearheaded by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, aims to succeed where others have failed. Tasked with reducing regulation, slashing government spending, and modernizing outdated government systems, DOGE has set an ambitious agenda. Unlike previous, failed efforts, DOGE has unique advantages, and we should expect it to succeed.
There’s an adage in Washington: “Nothing is so permanent as a government program.” Bureaucracies cling to their budgets and authority as though their existence depends on it, because it does. Even the most inefficient programs persist not only because of lobbying from outside groups but also because of resistance within government agencies. Budgets and power are fiercely guarded. Meanwhile, Congress doesn’t pay much attention to government programs once they’re established. Authorizing committees in Congress often lose track of the programs they create and are supposed to oversee. Spending bills blindly fund entire agencies, sometimes decades after their original authorizations have expired. Lawmakers are incentivized to create new programs, not to fix or eliminate existing ones. Reforming a program is difficult, often thankless work that comes with little political reward. The result is a sprawling federal bureaucracy with outdated systems, redundancies, and little accountability.
DOGE has the potential to break this cycle. Instead of targeting individual programs, it aims to modernize and consolidate inefficiencies across the entire federal government. What sets DOGE apart is the unique energy and attention Musk and Ramaswamy bring to the effort. Let’s look at an example from our past to reveal DOGE’s potential.
One of the most significant budget reforms in U.S. history happened right after the end of World War I, during what we now know as the beginning of the Roaring Twenties. At that time, rampant government corruption and inefficiency had eroded public trust. Reformers, led by the New York Bureau of Municipal Research (NYB), sought to overhaul the federal budget process. Backed by industrial giants such as Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, and John D. Rockefeller, the NYB played a key role in creating the executive budget process and establishing two essential agencies: what are today the Government Accountability Office and the Office of Management and Budget.
Underpinning the NYB’s successful effort was its ability to capture public attention. Leading up to the successful reform effort, in 1910 and 1911, NYB staged public exhibits that highlighted government inefficiencies and corruption, drawing large crowds. By making inefficiency a spectacle worthy of ridicule and reform, it turned an otherwise dry and technical issue into a natural priority for the American people. It sparked public buy-in. As one of the NYB’s leaders famously observed, “There are two things that make the news: one is a fight, and the other is a scandal.”
Musk is taking a similar approach with DOGE, except that he’s using the modern version of a public circus ring. Through his social media platform, X, Musk is bringing long-overlooked ideas for government reform into the spotlight. For years, think tanks and watchdog groups have proposed solutions to reduce waste and improve efficiency, but these ideas have languished on their websites and in white papers, ignored by the broader public. Musk, with his flair for disruption and his ability to command broad public attention, is making government reform “cool” again. This is no small feat — and it could make a real difference.
Of course, DOGE will face an uphill battle. Entrenched bureaucracies and lawmakers alike will resist change. Meaningful reform represents an existential threat to the status quo in Washington that has enriched so many. This is a significant challenge that no single department or initiative can achieve on its own.
DOGE is a bold experiment in government reform. By leveraging Musk’s and Ramaswamy’s ability to engage the public on substantive policy and choosing a government-wide scope of work, DOGE has the potential to achieve what so many others could not. If it succeeds, it would usher in a new era of accountability and efficiency in Washington. And even if it falls short of its ambitious goals, it will have brought much-needed public attention to an issue that is too often ignored.
The piece was originally published on National Review’s website on December 2, 2024.
