An old boss once explained that it's OK to be skeptical.
It's not OK, however, to be cynical.
There's a difference. Being skeptical involves hearing both sides. The door remains open, even if just a crack.
Being cynical means you've taken a side, usually negative. Door closed.
Lately I find it difficult to ward off cynicism. A lifetime of watching politics has amassed an avalanche of evidence warranting a cynical response, a “there they go again” shake of the head, and the justifiable conclusion that things never change.
My skeptical side greeted the news that Elon Musk would create the Department of Government Efficiency with some doubts. But at the same time – after reading Walter Isaacson's excellent biography of Musk – I couldn't wait to see Musk unleashed on a federal bureaucracy that has amassed a $37 trillion national debit.
Isaacson described Musk as the ultimate get-it-done-yesterday businessman, riding his staff hard, ruthlessly cutting waste, calling meetings at 2 a.m., sleeping on the floor of his office, and willing to ignore regulations standing in his way. The common expression is “ask forgiveness instead of permission,” but Musk became the richest man on earth not asking for either.
The question was whether he could operate like that in government.
Jury's still out on that.
It seemed like a huge opportunity for our country to finally get a handle on the wasteful spending that we all know exists. Musk and his crew came up with great examples of waste and fraud, like $2 million for Moroccan pottery classes and promotion, $300 million for Small Business Administration loans to children age 11 and younger, $32,000 for a transgender comic in Peru, and that famous $20 million for a Sesame Street production in Iraq. The examples went on and on.
Non-cynics might assume – I was briefly among them – that cutting wasteful spending was the one thing upon which we could all agree. A golden opportunity for bipartisanship.
Ha, ha, ha. That's a good one. A knee-slapper.
We soon found out that in this era of Trump Derangement Syndrome, our Democrat friends could even oppose cutting wasteful spending. And Musk – the former darling of the left who builds the best electric vehicles – was vilified as much as Trump, sometimes more.
Suddenly Tesla cars and trucks were vandalized, even set aflame in crazy demonstrations. Musk was accused of destroying democracy itself. The man who rescued two astronauts stuck at the Space Station was nevertheless hated here in earth by those defending their meal tickets, the precious status quo, and their jobs.
It remains to be seen how much good Musk and DOGE have accomplished, as politicians and judges have worked overtime to stymie their efforts. One loud congresswoman from Texas even said she wanted Musk “taken down” on her birthday.
And the final act: Trump and Musk are now at each other's throats – not particularly unexpected. Trump aims to pass his “Big Beautiful Bill” fulfilling campaign promises, but Musk sees additional spending in the bill as Congress drilling holes in the fiscal boat as he works frantically to patch holes.
Our best hope is that the specter of the 2017 tax cuts expiring, resulting in a huge tax increase at the end of the year, will ensure passage of at least part of Trump's big bill, which extends the tax cuts indefinitely. It brings to mind Don Corleone's “offer they can't refuse” in “The Godfather.”
If this all goes down in flames, and the DOGE efforts are for naught, it won't be the first time credible, detailed efforts to control government spending have been ignored by politicians with too many constituents at the trough to support reducing the swill.
The Grace Commission, Al Gore, Mitch Daniels, our own Al Simpson and Erskine Bowles – we've seen detailed, credible efforts to curb wasteful spending blithely ignored by politicians in the past. Politicians more interested in re-election than fending off fiscal disaster.
What a mess.
I'm afraid I've lapsed into cynicism on this one, despite my old boss's advice.
Some things just never change, and this golden opportunity to finally get a handle on our debt crisis seems to be slipping through our fingers.
Yet again.
Dave Simpson can be reached at: DaveSimpson145@hotmail.com
