January 24, 2024

It has become clear that our government needs to have its wings clipped. On multiple occasions, it has abused its power at the cost of the people it serves. The Department of Justice’s two-tiered justice system and its use of lawfare, the FBI and our intelligence agencies interfering in the election process, and the Department of Homeland [In]Security’s abandoning the slightest pretense of controlling our southern border by ignoring our immigration laws are examples of the deep-rooted corruption of the administrative state.

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A three-point plan could help get accountable government back on track:

1. Implement Schedule F. Our government agencies have a set of existing career officials who can prevent a duly elected presidential administration from accomplishing its goals (e.g., the Russian dossier hoax). The Pendleton (Civil Service Reform) Act of 1883 sought to improve government efficiency and end the “spoils system” by creating a professional managerial element based on merit. A noble idea that, since its enactment, has been corrupted by demographical shifts. An elected presidential administration deserves to have a bureaucracy that facilitates accomplishing its goals, not one that obstructs it.

2. Direct the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to recruit nationwide for federal positions GS-12 (middle management) and higher for openings in the metropolitan D.C. area. Nearly all do not include a relocation allowance for a move to the D.C. area. Not authorizing a relocation allowance is a cost-saving measure since the talent pool needed to fill these positions is locally available. Yet, while that talent pool is available, its demographics no longer represent the country.

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A look at the demographics of D.C. and its surrounding area shows that those counties are overwhelmingly Democrat. This has limited most federal employee positions to that of candidates from a single political party that bounce from agency to agency as they climb up the career ladder. This incestuous group facilitates a Democratic administration’s goals while dragging its feet on implementing a Republican administration’s goals.

Providing a relocation allowance offers a level playing field for nationwide recruitment to these positions. It produces a more representative workforce in the D.C. area, promoting diversity of political opinion to prevent the current “groupthink” many agencies seem to suffer.

3. Government Reorganization. Disperse government agency headquarters throughout the country. This should be a no-brainer given the nuclear threat since the Cold War for survivability and continuity of government reasons. The technology exists to implement it. With all our federal tax dollars going to D.C., it is no wonder nine of the richest 20 counties are D.C. and its suburbs. It is time to share the wealth with the rest of the nation.

Instead of the new FBI headquarters in Maryland, construct it in a more central location, say St. Louis or Kansas City. Homeland Security could base out of a Texas city, preferably near our southern border — the Department of the Interior in Wyoming or Montana. Placing federal government agencies with the rest of America would give them a better understanding of the everyday lives of the people they administer. It would go a long way to spread our tax dollars nationwide and burst the D.C. bubble.

The establishment elite fears this idea; Tom Shoop in Government Executive states that this effort is based on two fallacies:

The first is: “the federal workforce is too Washington-centric. In fact, upwards of 80% of federal employees work outside the national capital region.”