It’s Always Been a Matter of Trust

Yes, the efforts of DOGE are intended to destroy government effectiveness and expertise in certain areas, and to create disillusionment among federal employees. But the strategies being deployed, along with the lies used to justify those strategies, are also accelerating a dangerous trend. Brooke Harrington in the NYT (Gift Article): Trust Was Once an American Superpower. “This promises to be a tough way for Americans to learn a critical fact too often overlooked — that one of our country’s greatest and least-appreciated assets has been public faith and trust in a variety of highly complex systems staffed by experts whose names we’ll never know. In fact, high levels of trust used to be one of our superpowers in the United States: specifically, that meant trust in our government to operate with reasonable competence and stability, and without the kind of corruption that has hobbled other societies.”

+ Not everyone is getting with the program. Federal technology staffers resign rather than help Musk and DOGE. “We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans’ sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services. We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGE’s actions.”

+ But who needs people? Wired: DOGE Is Working on Software That Automates the Firing of Government Workers.