The only people who have been given the task of reforming government are politicians and government employees. Employees are going to protect turf and politicians are going to protect votes, so, there will never be any reduction in government bloat. There may be a solution – citizen task forces throughout the country.
Do you really want to end government waste and inefficiencies? The result of this would be a whole lot of people losing their government jobs and pensions. Are we willing to drop some programs and eliminate some entitlements? What handouts or services are you willing to cut back? The time to do so is right now.
My idea to get the job done is to establish volunteer citizen task forces in every local area. They would have access to all financials, projects, buildings, and government organizational charts. The goal would be to cut government budgets in half. Private businesses and families are familiar with the awful task of cutting things out of their budgets when they don’t have enough money. In over 200 years I doubt the government has ever done this.
We hear of teachers and police officers being laid off. At the same time, I drive around seeing endless unnecessary government projects. Do we really need landscaped medians in our roadways? Seldom do I ride my bike through forest preserves and not see multiple government trucks with employees. In my town there are two school districts, each with 6 elementary schools, 4 junior high schools, and 2 high schools. Each district superintendent makes close to $200,000 per year. Why not combine the two districts into one and lose a bunch of bureaucrats?
On a larger scale, there are 10,000 employees at the Department of Education in Washington. What would change at a local school is this department were eliminated? Ever wondered why we still need a department of agriculture when only 2% of the population now farms?
The examples of waste in government could go on forever. Let’s get these task forces going. They should be made up of volunteers willing to do the work for free. No lobbying would be allowed. Just give a day each week to the cause. The press could record the results and the task force could make recommendations to appropriate government boards.
As an American citizen we have more than a right to vote, we have the right to hold government accountable. This is supposed to be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.