My Unsolicited Advice to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on DOGE and Its Future (Plus, Ohio Senate Vacancy Poll Results)
Underpromise and overperform. Move federal entities outside of DC now. Don't reinvent the wheel. Fellow appointees and Republicans in Congress aren't your allies. Hire great lawyers.
Unlike Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy who have thrived in the private sector, I have spent time at both the state and federal level battling bureaucrats and bureaucracy to make government work better. That work included figuring out how to creatively fire and hold civil servants accountable, streamlining government, revolutionizing programs, and taming the excesses of government. In some cases, I succeeded wildly and earned awards for my work; in other cases, I won the fight initially only to see that work reversed after I left; in still other cases, I failed. In all cases, I learned valuable lessons worth sharing.
First and most importantly: Let your work speak for you by underpromising and overdelivering. Right now, you guys are talking A LOT and I mean A LOT. You are creating enormous expectations and possibly overpromising what you actually will be able to accomplish in two short years against a foe and its minions who have been at this game for a very long time. They’ve seen reformers come in with great promise only to exit with little achieved. You would be better off tamping down expectations and letting your actions do your talking. This quote by Ramaswamy is peak overpromising and irrationally exuberant about what can be done on day one:
We expect certain agencies to be deleted outright. We expect mass reductions in force in areas of the federal government that are bloated. We expect massive cuts among federal contractors and others who are over-billing the federal government. So yes, we expect all of the above, and I think people will be surprised by… how quickly we're able to move with some of those changes given the legal backdrop the Supreme Court has given us.
Keep in mind, the “legal backdrop” of Roe v. Wade took fifty years to reach its apex, so a few Supreme Court decisions on the administrative state will be litigated ad nauseam to carve out exceptions, seek additional guidance, and, more critically, wait out DOGE’s two-year life and the end of Trump’s second term.
Moreover, there is the serious problem of autopilot; meaning, much of the federal government's expenses and employment are untouchable. For example, for Fiscal Year 2023, 73% of federal spending is mandatory for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, income security programs, and interest on the national debt, with another 13.2% of federal spending on defense. That leaves just 13.8% of all federal spending on non-defense, non-mandatory programs. Yes, there is waste, fraud, and abuse, but finding and stopping it isn’t easy or it would have been done by now. Similarly, of the 2.3 million federal employees, 1.2 million work in defense or veterans affairs, which tend not to be politically popular to cut. The point is that finding large areas for spending or employee cuts aren’t walks in the park. Again, underpromise and overdeliver.
Next, unless expressly prohibited by statute, move federal departments, offices, and agencies around America as rapidly as possible. With 85% of federal workers barely coming to work, institute an immediate requirement to come to the office married with moving as many offices outside of the National Capital Region (NCR) as you can. Don’t make the mistake of waiting for new buildings to be built. Most American cities have office space available now you can move right into at bargain prices. Break leases in D.C. and sell federal buildings, even at cut-rate prices, so Trump’s predecessors can’t reverse the exodus (i.e., burn the damn bridges). By taking these three actions, you can spread the wealth of the federal government to the states; save money; defang the importance of the NCR to America’s operations; make it much harder for the legions of lawyers, lobbyists, and government contractors living in the NCR to fleece taxpayers; and force federal employees unwilling to move from Alexandria to Omaha to quit. This last piece will save you time and money in firing or laying off federal employees via attrition.
Don’t reinvent the wheel because you need to stick your names on things. You should leverage what has come before. You guys aren’t the first cowboys coming to the rodeo. Along with the hard work done by Citizens Against Government Waste and its annual Congressional Pig Book, as well as the work of other conservative groups who have made the case for countless reforms, you and every member of your leadership team should read these five books, one report, and article—I’ll happily pay for copies of books for both of you:
Naked Emperors: The Failure of the Republican Revolution (2008) by Scot Faulkner — After the 1994 Republican Revolution, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich appointed Faulkner to lead the effort to fundamentally reform Washington, D.C. Due to forces beyond Faulkner’s control and Gingrich’s personal foibles, Faulkner’s efforts largely failed. DOGE can learn key lessons as it embarks on its vital work.
The Regulators: Anonymous Power Brokers in American Politics (2003) by Cindy Skrzycki — Skrzycki highlights the sheer power of anonymous and unaccountable regulators who truly hold the power in America. DOGE must tame the regulatory beast if it stands any chance at succeeding.
Not Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Sector Unions (2023) by Philip Howard — Howard details the constitutional case against the powerful public sector unions that rule government and throw obstacles in the way of reformers at every turn.
Mission Improbable: Using Fantasy Documents to Tame Disasters (1999) by Lee Clarke — Clarke exposes the unicorn of government planners: fantasy plans utterly disconnected from reality. These plans pose enormous costs on workers, companies, and Americans in every aspect of their lives/existence. These unicorns must be slayed if America is to thrive.
Homeland and Federalism: Protecting America from Outside the Beltway (with Foreward by the Honorable Edwin Meese III) (2016) by Me — I carefully walk through how the creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) put too great an emphasis on what happens in Washington, D.C., and too little focus on what can be done by states and localities when it comes to protecting America. This book is a good companion piece with the report and article below.
Competitive Federalism: Leveraging the Constitution to Rebuild America (March 2013) by Me — I lay out the case for decentralizing elements (Medicaid, transportation, and education) of the federal government to the states so the fifty laboratories of competition can compete to find the best, most efficient ways to provide government goods and services to Americans.
Why We Should Eliminate the Department of Homeland Security: Let’s dismantle the Frankenstein monster and divide its responsibilities more effectively, Reason Magazine (June 23, 2015) by Me — I describe why and how America can organize itself better to protect against threats, strengthen our immigration activities, and unify disjointed entities across the federal government.
These books contain the lessons of countless reformers and the ideas on both low-hanging fruit to pick and other big ticket reforms that will change how the federal government looks and operates. Neither of you are known for wanting to stand on the shoulders of those who did the spade work before you, but, in this critical area far outside your areas of expertise and knowledge, you must if you want to succeed.
Don’t be surprised when Republicans in Congress and fellow Trump Administration appointees quietly undermine your work. When I went to Washington, D.C., to help stand up DHS after the 9/11 terrorist attack, I naively believed that Republicans in Congress and my fellow Republican appointees would fight with me shoulder-to-shoulder against Democrat opposition to get important work done for the American people. What I learned, however, was that everyone in Washington, D.C., has their own agendas that often times conflicts with getting things done or serving the people. I spent more time at DHS fighting FEMA Administrator Mike “heckuva’ job” Brown’s and his team's non-stop efforts to takeover my office simply because they wanted the $3.5 billion terrorism grants checkbook I controlled than dealing with Democrat efforts in Congress to undermine the Bush Administration. The number of territorial battles and ego stand-offs I had to fight with fellow Bush appointees was maddening and draining.
Similarly, most of our efforts to reform terrorist grant programs to minimize automatic pork payments to states and cities by maximizing a risk-based approach that bought down risks and consequences to Americans were opposed and stealthily curbed by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. Why? Because they lived on promoting the pork they brought home to their districts and states regardless of whether that pork did anything to make their constituents safer. Be forewarned: fellow Trump Administration appointees in all of those departments, offices, and agencies you want to reform will have countless Grima Wormtongues whispering in their ears about why they should covertly work against your efforts and Republicans in Congress will give you lip service about the importance of your efforts all the while moving to protect their pork. Saying you will reform government turns out to be far harder than doing it. Pay particular attention to how many Republicans join Representative Aaron Bean’s newly-created “DOGE Caucus” as an anecdote of congressional support for your work. It has three members so far.
Finally, build a team of the best lawyers in America who have successfully battled the Leviathan. You must assume every single action you take will be litigated to the fullest extent by government unions, George Soros pawns, left-wing governors and attorneys general, and private sector entities who live off the government teat you are trying to plug. I detest lawyers as much as the next guy, but you will need them to defend your work. There are countless talented men and women across America who would love to help you, but they won’t and can’t do it for free, so make sure to put aside some legal defense funds. You’ll need it.
The work that DOGE has in front of it is enormously important to realigning the federal government to something closer to what the Founding Fathers intended. I hope with all of my being that you succeed beyond our wildest dreams.
P.S. Though not a statistically significant result, here are the results of the poll on who Mike DeWine should appoint to fill J.D. Vance’s U.S. Senate seat. The total number of votes cast was 162. Those who voted include readers of this column, my X followers, and all of the people who saw the retweets of the survey by Ohio Political Action and Ohio Political News. Because I hosted the poll you should heavily discount the results when it comes to me.
34 votes/20.9% — Matt Mayer (me;-)
27 votes/16.7% — Jane Timken
23 votes/14.2% — Other
17 votes/10.5% — Robert Sprague
16 votes/9.9% — Warren Davidson
15 votes/9.3% — Mike Carey
13 votes/8.0% — Mehak Cooke
10 votes/6.2% — Jon Husted
5 votes/3.1% — Matt Dolan
2 votes/1.2% — David Joyce
“Other” likely includes votes for Frank LaRose, Jim Renacci, and Jim Jordan. To me, the most interesting results are these:
As the career politician on the list whose been on statewide tickets four times and is the sitting Lieutenant Governor, Husted simply isn’t liked by grassroots Republicans. He is extremely vulnerable to someone with the money to challenge him in a Republican primary (I’m talking to you, Ramaswamy—if I had the money to compete, I would have wiped the floor with Husted);
Dolan needs to head back to the family business in Cleveland and give up on rising higher in politics;
The fact that “other” came in third shows just how much grassroots Republicans want a fresh face with bold ideas versus the same also-rans;
Despite a very effective self-promotion campaign, Cooke isn’t that attractive to a clear supermajority of grassroots Republicans coming in with only 8%; and
Though it was my poll, I’d like to believe my level of support is due to the fact that those who read my Substack columns, follow my Opportunity Ohio work, and see my tweets know that there are few Ohioans who can match my policy acumen and political experience when it comes to politics and policy so think I would be the best choice to replace Vance and fight for Ohio in Washington. As my 2012 book, Taxpayers Don’t Stand a Chance: Why Battleground Ohio Loses No Matter Who Wins (And What To Do About It), established, I was MOGA (Make Ohio Great Again) before Trump launched MAGA.
Regardless of the results, I still believe DeWine will appoint Husted if they think Ramaswamy will run for governor in 2026; otherwise, it likely will be Timken, which would align with this poll.
