Posted on 09/23/2024 5:45:11 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
After one term as president in which his promise to remake the massive federal government mostly came up short, Donald Trump again is raining fury on the “deep state,” pledging if elected in November to replace career civil servants with his like-minded allies.
If Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance were to succeed in remaking the federal workforce in the way they have described, it would be the most radical reconfiguration of the U.S. government in 140 years.
Critics, including nonpartisan analysts, fear Trump’s proposal to replace thousands of civil servants with his loyalists would resurrect something like the 19th century “spoils” system, which Congress scrapped in the late 1800s due to rampant incompetence and cronyism.
The U.S. operated for much of the 1800s on the understanding that individuals won jobs with the government not by proving their expertise, but by having connections to presidents and their parties.
Congress moved to eliminate the spoils system in 1883, about 18 months after a disgruntled job-seeker assassinated the man he believed owed him a government appointment — James A. Garfield, the 20th president of the United States.
“You’re now talking about 140 years of presidential administrations — Republicans and Democrats — who all supported the proposition that the best way to get an effective government was to have a career, professional, merit-based civil service,” said Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit that analyzes federal agencies and their employees. “So the idea that we would convert that, or return to a 19th-century-style spoils system, is a huge anomaly. It’s a radical change.”
Trump has made clear he does not intend to be dissuaded by those who have worked within the government before. The Republican presidential candidate recently offered his emphatic endorsement of a housecleaning when...”
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
When the IRS workers union endorsed Harris, we can be pretty sure the spoils/patronage system is firmly in place.
The Department of Education was a gift from Jimmy Carter to the teachers unions for their support. Reagan said he would get rid of it, but he never did.
It has grown in size and scope, now taking on a money laundering function. Universities are now "retirement jobs" for displaced political hacks to do as requested.
The Dept. of Education is one agency whose name comes up often as one we don’t need. Should be state controlled probably. I think if they looked hard at these agencies one at a time, that there are others we could probably do without or consolidate some with other agencies & reduce the number of employees. Government right now is unnecessarily big.
Two misleading articles by the LA Times in just a few posted articles. Apparently their writers are trying to take the mantle of most lying and biased articles away from the NYT and WaPo. Either that or they are just plain stupid with an inability to think.
“need to go to jail”
A friend was invited by a woman in the State Department to come work in the United States. He was told he’d get a green card.
He sold off all his belongings and came here to work at a hotel.
Then when he called the woman to get his work authorization she said she never promised him work authorization. He was stuck.
Fortunately he married an American woman and they have a business together.
The FedCrook is probably still up to that old trick.
They got the headline wrong, should have said “prompts applause.”
Treasury and the War Department are the only agencies I’d keep.
Our current spoils system all goes one-way, left.
and that’s a BAD thing?
They have tried to kill him more than twice. We just don’t hear about it.
“it would be the most radical reconfiguration of the U.S. government in 140 years”
Then, obviously, long overdue.
Every Democrat presidential nominee since 1984 went to law school, although Gore did not graduate.
The Republican Party is different. President Trump was a businessman. Presidents Bush 1 and 2 were businessmen. Vice President Cheney was a businessman. President Eisenhower was a 5 star General. The leaders of the Republican Revolution: Newt Gingrich was a history professor. Tom Delay was an exterminator. Dick Armey was an economist. Ex-House Minority Leader John Boehner was a plastics manufacturer. The former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is a heart surgeon. Who was the last Republican president who was a lawyer? Gerald Ford, who left office 31 years ago and who barely won the Republican nomination as a sitting president, running against actor Ronald Reagan in 1976. The Republican Party is made up of real people doing real work, who are often the targets of lawyers.
Only this time the cuts will be for cause and prosecution and not the wind blow hate you whimsey of some woke bureaucrat. I am there and stoked for it, long overdue
Thousands? How about 100000s of thousands.
It’s a start.
Not “replace them with loyalists”. Fire them and eliminate their positions entirely. That is the entire point. And the number needs to be hundreds of thousands - not thousands. And then states can start the same program. Federal, state and local workers without and actual skills need to be introduced to the French fry deep fryer!
And even if they go right to welfare it will still likely be cheaper than paying their salaries for sitting at home and putting in 2 hours of work per day!
Fjb fired all of his!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.