​Defending Our Expert Civil Servants

First a shout out to Melat Kiros- the Democratic candidate for Congress in Colorado. Move over Mamdani and welcome her to the table.  Oh Congressman Jeffries- you want to be Speaker- maybe not.    

Now to the topic at hand, I would like to pay homage to President Rutherford B Hayes.  Didn't see that coming, did you? Not relevant, but as a young man he was quite the fox.  Trust me/ look at him.

However, instead of his looks, let's focus on his belief that the government should represent everyone, regardless of race, economic status or social standing. He supported a meritocracy. Hayes was also an abolitionist, a brave and often wounded General for the Union Army during the Civil War.  A sucker but not quite a loser according to Trump. 

He was far from perfect. Hayes used the military on striking railroad workers who had their pay cut 3 times in a year....It was bloody and a shameful decision.  But, he can't be blamed for this President creating a giant militia called ICE and using our military against anyone or anywhere he doesn't like. 

Hayes also instituted reforms that would ultimately create the civil service.   Of course there was resistance. But it grew into the backbone and prevailing philosophy regarding federal employees. Yes Presidents come and cherry pick appointments.  Some positions, like the Supreme Court- Just Kill Me Now- as well as the Cabinet and department heads fall to the discretion of whomever is president.  But both the belief and the reality that government should serve the people consistently, even through changes in administrations, means an army of such workers who are experienced, skilled, and not subject to political forces are needed.

Let's say you want to appoint a lazy, alcoholic sycophant with no experience to head up the FBI. A moron who rarely shows up to work and takes a federal private jet everywhere. The country could possibly survive that if the majority of experienced and effective agents were left to do their jobs. Instead of firing too many employees for being "woke" or tasking others to redact trump's name from the Epstein Files. The former is ridiculous and the latter is a herculean job.

In theory the federal government, including the President, works for us, the American people.  As flawed as the Founding Fathers were, both by birth and Machiavellian need, they understood that a President and others in power could break the law.  Hence, the Emollients Clause of the Constitution.  And impeachment as well as removing those incapable of doing their job. Nothing seems to be working currently.  I guess sending war criminals to The Hague is out of the question.

Speaking of the Emollients Clause. Trump earned over 2 billion dollars in just crypto during his first year as president.  um how is this legal. Oh right, it isn't. This is on top of the billions he has spent on war, stupidity and endless tributes to himself.  So, trillions of dollars in total.  Aided by a mobius strip of insider trading and war profiteering on a war he started.

Back to Hayes.  He served one term and was succeeded by James Garfield who was shot and died. Ironically, Garfield was assassinated by a disappointed office seeker. History is interesting. America, you should teach it in schools. Presented fairly, giving as many as possible perspectives of the story of our country. In other words, the opposite of whatever Mississippi is doing.

Before Hayes instituted the reforms that grew into the Civil Service, populating the government was a corrupt, insane and often a merit free exercise. Think about today.  The venal chaos now should illuminate that time in history. This country, when being born, did not want a king.  With some exceptions, a strong Executive did not emerge until the 20th century.

Still, there were laws in place to stop the President from ignoring the other 2 branches of government and being able to recklessly remove large numbers of federal workers. But such laws only have meaning if the courts and Congress do their jobs.

The “unSupreme Court” just gave Trump even more power over federal employees and their crucial expertise we and the planet desperately need. The majority overturned 91 years of precedent to allow one person to fire people ostensibly working for the entire country. Just to prove the hackery and the lack of intellectual integrity of the majority of the justices, this Court ruled that Trump could fire Rebecca Slaughter from the Federal Trade Commission, but not  Lisa Cook from the Board of the Federal Reserve.

Only the 3 liberal women justices demonstrated that they possess consistent and respect worthy legal minds. And those that voted to expand this power inre both decisions, care nothing for the Constitution and this country. Even though, or actually because  this is now a lawless hodgepodge, the President can fire a large number of top federal employees.

Of course a workforce of hundreds of thousands of people will have some problems. VP Al Gore led a commission to intelligently and systematically study the federal government to reduce waste and fraud.  A lot of the frustration people had lay with the Pentagon has only gotten worse inre the Defense Department or whatever the alias is. Even if not being led by a drunk who takes his orders from the 5 deferments, never served in the military, President.  The man who apparently loves the war machine but disrespects our friends and neighbors who are fed into it: (btw it will cost 125 million dollars to change Hegseth's department from Defense to War. And that doesn't include the billions generated by trump attacking Iran.)  etc. to finity.

Optimizing the federal work force is a big ask.  But it needs to be done with intelligence, patience and care.  Sending in a bunch of incel frat boys who know nothing nor actually care to slash jobs while stealing classified information including SSN's is not the way. 

Wow- we just eliminated the Nuclear Regulatory Commission whatever that is.....

The president's face should not be on government buildings.   Their personal lawyer should not head up the DOJ.  Cronies and self serving billionaires with no expertise should not be "serving" in government.  Why does this even need to be stated?

I'm exhausted but filled with hope. Every day children are being born and we owe them a future.  A democracy, a country and a planet. If the current administration was in fact the draft of a fiction novel, any editor would scream: rewrite this until it approaches reality.

Thank you Rutherford B for your service. Except what you did to unions.  Hayes is also remembered for becoming President after losing the popular vote. Neither candidate had enough electoral votes. Finally, a compromise was reached and Hayes was installed as Chief Executive. That is when the country should have eliminated the Electoral College.. Because of the controversy regarding his election, Hayes promised to only serve one term.  A promise that he kept. He did not run again or cause an insurrection and the rest...

Now go out and shop locally six days a week.  Demonstrate through algorithms that we have massive combined power and economic heft.

Don't Shop on Tuesday.

#DSOT #UPM