President Trump Opens the Valve to Drain
the Swamp With a New Executive Order
PJ Media,
by
Stacy Lennox
Original Article
Posted By: Pluperfect,
10/27/2020 4:24:23 AM
President Trump has signed an executive order that removes civil-service protections from certain positions within federal government agencies. There has been much whining and gnashing of teeth, but voters should be thrilled. Making policymakers in the Deep State “at-will” employees, who are easier to dismiss if they attempt to obstruct the duly elected president’s agenda, is a good thing. Not being bound to hire according to a career-progression ladder will also allow agencies to bring in new people with new ideas. This will be true whether or not Donald Trump is president.
The need to reduce protections within the civil service became apparent when training based on critical race
Reply 1 - Posted by:
anniebc 10/27/2020 5:04:20 AM (No. 585745)
The need to reduce protections was around long before critical race theory came along; insubordination didn't just start either. Back in the day, civil servants had something called portability, which meant that if you moved from one state to another, you could take your GS status with you--you could transfer or pick up another government job with a guarantee of the same rate or higher. It's hard to fire government workers (including teachers and workers in state and local government); they have better protections and benefits than those who pay their salaries. Speaking of salaries, their salaries, bonuses, benefits, and retirement plans are very competitive. Government civil service (state, local, and federal) needs a complete RIF and overhaul. Getting rid of unions is number one, and every last one of them should be at will--top to bottom, not just certain ones, including Congresscritters and their large staffs. That State Department needs to be completely hosed out from DC to around the whole world. Bring all those spoiled anti-American foreign service leeches home and let them compete for real jobs and send their kids to public schools like the rest of US.
48 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
DCGIRL 10/27/2020 5:25:10 AM (No. 585755)
What I have been saying all along, President Trump needs to let all Senior Executive Service (SES) employees that were promoted to SES during the Obama administration go. SES are not protected and work at the pleasure of the president. Please do not stop there, look at the military. That needs flushing also (Generals, Admirals). Then he needs to look at the next layer down (GM 15 and GM14). GM 14/15 might be hard to let go. By referencing the executive order with proof that they are obstructing the President's agenda and making their positions "at will", will make it easier to fire them immediately. This has been long overdue.
Obama set up his own little army within the federal government and they need to be removed immediately before President Trump starts next 4 years. Everyone in the Whitehouse who was a hold over from Obama needs to go.
68 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
OBX Pete 10/27/2020 5:43:50 AM (No. 585762)
Agree with everything #2 says. The swamp is alive and indictment free. There will be no end to the attempts to "get" Trump unless he does a quick job of cleaning them out !!
43 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Paperpuncher 10/27/2020 6:53:59 AM (No. 585803)
Another win!
18 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
MattMusson 10/27/2020 7:02:57 AM (No. 585815)
Making Bureaucrats Accountable.
21 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
TCloud 10/27/2020 7:33:54 AM (No. 585845)
Nearly impossible to do and with the stroke from the Pen any Pius Super Grade is put on notice! BOOM!
14 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
GustoGrabber 10/27/2020 7:43:06 AM (No. 585854)
Act 10 at a federal level.
And decentralize the bureaucracy. Spread em out and make them use zoom.
16 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
lakerman1 10/27/2020 7:55:28 AM (No. 585873)
the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 included the requirement that Congress approve appointments of individuals to 'super grades; GS 16, 17, 18.
it apparently had no impact in making those indivdsu8als more responsive.
9 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
HotRod 10/27/2020 8:58:07 AM (No. 585938)
Unelected bureaucrats are the scourge of government They make laws and rules, impose fines, invade your privacy, and thumb their noses at elected officials. They are a major part of the swamp.
18 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
hershey 10/27/2020 9:02:59 AM (No. 585946)
He should have done this on day #2 of his first 4 years....
14 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
tootall 10/27/2020 9:05:01 AM (No. 585949)
The 'Hawaiian' weaponized the bureaucracy by installing Politically biased individuals in management positions down several levels, thus making them the policy makers. Not good. Laura Ingraham has been saying this for about ten years. It's about time this happened!
17 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
paral04 10/27/2020 10:00:23 AM (No. 586038)
The civil service protection should have been thrown out the window when government employees were allowed to unionize.
14 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Talk2 10/27/2020 10:10:33 AM (No. 586055)
They don't call civil servants "feather merchants" for no reason. Feathering one's nest is a favorite pastime of civil servants!
7 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Venturer 10/27/2020 10:12:07 AM (No. 586058)
He needs to start with the State Department and work his way down.
It's time to get rid of incompetents
8 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
TXknitter 10/27/2020 10:21:40 AM (No. 586072)
There is no way Trump could have done that, #10. There is a reason Bushes, Clintons never had the guts to touch the federal bureaucracy with all its bloat, unaccountable incompetency and shameful greed. Trump was wise to know it. But NOW? Katie bar the door and thank you Mr. President.
11 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
stablemoney 10/27/2020 10:22:24 AM (No. 586076)
There is no justification for anyone in government to have civil service protection. The rest of us are at will, and so should they be.
11 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
MDConservative 10/27/2020 11:13:44 AM (No. 586160)
The first thing is to re-institute real merit examination for employment, immediately followed by re-institution of the full Hatch Act. Political activism means instant removal.
Reduce the Federal workforce? Sure. Ask your Member of Congress and (s)he'll say "Right on!" Now, ask about cutting/eliminating agencies in your city or town...meaning your neighbors and her constituents. Uh, no, those are all vital to America! Those other guys across the state line...those featherbedders need to go.
5 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
jeffkinnh 10/27/2020 1:00:26 PM (No. 586288)
"civil servants work for us, and it is high time they were reminded of that."
Yes, but this is the same problem faced on the federal courts where positions were infested with liberals who decided that the law meant whatever they say it does, or, if it says nothing, the judge can make it up new law from whole cloth. The civil servants have reached the same type of mental understanding. THEY know best and will carry out things to THEIR satisfaction.
Vindman was a perfect example of this. He admitted that President Trump broke no laws but Trump stepped outside the bureaucracy and that was intolerable. Part of the problem is a bureaucrat's status is largely based on following the bureaucratic rules, not on getting the job done or following the president's orders. If you push the right papers in the right way, you're a good bureaucrat. The mindset of accomplishing administrative goals, as set by the president, is a completely alien and scary thing. For one thing, the goals keep changing as administrations and circumstances change. Bureaucrats aren't designed to keep up.
Consider Trump's reaction when he wanted to initiate "Warp Speed" to get to a vaccine (and treatments) and bureaucrat Fauci said it would take 3 years, no matter what. Why? Because the the existing procedures ALWAYS take 3 years and THAT IS THAT. It's the old "That's the way we have always done it." argument. And to consider changes to the process would take even longer. Trump keeps asking for solutions and Fauci keeps retreating to his safe and well established procedures. That's a significant reason why Fauci is on the outs. He lacks the mindset to innovate and create new solutions. In fact, in bureaucrat land, such thinking is VERY dangerous to your career. Instead, Trump pulled in business and asked them to innovate the process as well as the vaccine. They very successfully did as Fauci fussed at every step.
The biggest problem will be to find enough people in the swamp that are actually capable of creativity and innovation and the ability to rapidly adapt to changing goals and needs. Not all bureaucrats need to do this but a bunch will. Will there be enough people that can? Where will we find the people that can? Maybe successful business partners will be essential. How will that work? One thing that may be revealed, that there are far too many bureaucrats and doing things in different, better ways may eliminate the need for so many of them.
2 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
DVC 10/27/2020 1:33:41 PM (No. 586339)
#18, as to your last paragraph....
Once I was trying to solve some customer service issue, now forgotten, via telephone while at work. After a very frustrating 20 minutes on the phone with an incompetent fool, I slammed down the phone HARD and said out loud, some expletives. At that time our small group of specialist engineers worked in a physically isolated room, and we were in a habit of shouting to each other over the partitions as a matter of course, a slightly rowdy group, different than most office demeanor in our company, for sure. From the next cubical came a comment from my co-worker/friend...chiding me gently (with humor) about my outburst.
I got up and grinning widely walked around to talk to him. In our friendly conversation, he made an EXCELLENT point about my frustration:
"There just aren't enough smart people to go around, so for a lot of these jobs (like the person on the phone) so we HAVE TO use stupid people. And it isn't ever going to change."
Grrrrrrrrr! Oh, rats! Clearly he was right, and I have kept that in mind when dealing with bureaucrats since. Getting mad doesn't help, but it is pretty infuriating to see how incompetent and uncaring many are. Often a bit of humor and a "OK, then how can I solve this problem?" will get you farther than other approaches with lower level bureaucrats.
For the top level folks that Trump is talking about.....fire a bunch of them, and make the rest afraid to go against your agenda.
3 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
pensom2 10/27/2020 8:51:56 PM (No. 586818)
Folks, the ones who need to be fired are the liberal attorneys employed by the DOJ in Washington. A great many of them despise Trump and believe that any direction by the Attorney General constitutes meddling in their "independent" right to evaluate and make decisions concerning all sorts of politically-oriented litigation involving the bureaucracy. And they are absolutely certain that the Fifth Amendment's due process clause ("no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law") guarantees that they shall have unlimited hearings and reviews and appeals before being dismissed from a governmental position.
0 people like this.
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