The dawn of DOGE has arrived. No, not the meme-themed cryptocurrency, but rather the new Department of Government Efficiency headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Sitting just outside of being an “official” government agency with a funded budget and a cement building near the White House, DOGE will operate as more of a remote agency with a simple task: cut the bloated federal government by upward of $6 trillion in waste.
Unlike a typical agency, which would spend millions of man-hours staffing, hiring, and dishing out government benefits, DOGE will operate on an entirely different and almost voluntary level, according to Fortune:
Nicknamed DOGE after the cryptocurrency preferred by the Tesla CEO, its stated purpose is to radically shrink the size of the federal government by streamlining bureaucracy, eliminating jobs and shaving up to a third off of the $6.75 trillion fiscal budget.
Only the smartest Americans most ideologically dedicated to this cause should consider polishing up their resumés, however, because the task will prove gruelling and thankless, according to DOGE, which will be run jointly by Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
“We need super high-IQ, small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting,” DOGE said in a statement on Thursday posted from its official account.
Interested parties looking to throw their hat in the ring must message DOGE directly, which already bears the grey check X introduced to signify a government body. Doing so is not free, however—it involves first paying Musk an X subscription fee for the privilege and so far the account is exclusive to his social media platform.
Outstanding candidates who meet the criteria will be selected personally by Musk and his partner, it promised: “Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
Almost immediately, the official @DOGE X account began getting hammered with suggestions of compiled lists of government waste from prior decades and attempts at efficiency and waste trimming.
Most notably, Senator Rand Paul puts out an annual list of insane ways the federal government blows taxpayer money, let’s just start there:
I’m having fun on X posting examples of wasteful spending for DOGE to cut..
One of my Favs from Rand Paul lol
• 500k for a “study” to see if taking a selfie of yourself while smiling, will that make you happy.
• $3 million for a “study” to see if humans would eat ants to… pic.twitter.com/wQUlbajTel
— Gabriela Iglesias🇺🇲 (@iglesias_gabby) November 13, 2024
The list could go on and on. As they say, a billion here, a billion there, soon you’re talking about real money.
Another name being floated and referenced in relation to the goal of government cost-cutting is Rand Paul’s father, Ron Paul:
Happy to be in touch, @VivekGRamaswamy and congratulations to you and @elonmusk. Always happy to discuss cutting government!
— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) November 14, 2024
For decades, Ron Paul has been at the forefront of trying to trim waste and convince people that when the federal government expands, your rights contract. He’s been right in a lot of ways on a lot of issues but up until now, sat outside the typical Republican tent. With the coalition government Donald Trump is building that includes former Democrats like Tulsi Gabbard and famous Democrats like Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Paul, a libertarian at heart, is finding some new love from DOGE enthusiasts willing to take his ideas and run with them.
What’s still unclear is exactly how DOGE will operate and what formal power it will have. Without being specifically in charge of the federal budget, it seems DOGE will serve more as an advisory panel that will offer blueprints to the various department heads on how they can trim their agencies and curtail the bureaucratic sprawl.
With budgets so massive and entrenched, it will take a crowd-sourced effort of DOGE cust-cutters to find and cut the bloat in federal agencies.
Here’s Elon Musk, speaking at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, explaining the objective of DOGE:
Elon Musk on D.O.G.E:
"I think we can reduce the annual federal budget by atleast $2 trillion per year. Your tax money is being wasted and the Department of Government Efficiency is going to fix that."
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) November 13, 2024
Donate Now to Support Election Central
- Help defend independent journalism
- Directly support this website and our efforts