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Governments are a finicky thing, often maligned, never understood and staffed by a host of individuals who the population generally views as unproductive and inefficient. These views are present whether you are a libertarian or socialist, we the omnipotent citizens believe there is substantial and unchallenged waste and pork barrelling throughout our governance systems. Cue DOGE.

There are necessary things in life that we cannot produce or acquire ourselves, a set of collective needs that are the foundation for governments. Roles like national defence, international relations, trade, currency, criminal and civil courts, protection of the environment, etc. We create a social contract with the government: you do the things we want done but are unable to do as individuals, and through taxation we will provide you the resources to execute. A simple agreement.

There are three grounding principles in public sector governance. First is that the government works for the people. Second it exists at the pleasure of the people and third is that it is subject to the oversight of the people. Generalities yes, but unwavering rules that form the social contract.

I argue that DOGE’s gift is the groundwork for a future delivery method to rebuild institutional trust, to demonstrate to the population that their hard earned dollars are being judiciously managed and allocated to appropriate systems that further the wellbeing of society. Imagine if DOGE was mainstream, that an independent auditor could access every system in the government, release all payment information and contracts on a recurring basis to the population. Millions of Americans would have unrestricted access to a database of expenditures, to conduct their own evaluation on the appropriateness of expenditures, in concert with - not replacing - the Ombudsmen and Auditors General.

So bemoan the process by which DOGE is operating, the personalities involved, their potential to gain from access to the information and any other reasons you can foster to fight this initiative. 

DOGE is brilliant, it is a version of government accountability we’ve all been waiting for. We want to trust and verify. The government needs to create a system that supports the increase in public trust and confidence, and that begins with transparency. 

Tell us what you’re doing and if I have questions, I’ll ask. Novel, but revolutionary.

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