Yesterday, Donald Trump issued an executive order directing the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to “propose a plan to reorganize governmental functions and eliminate unnecessary agencies” in the federal government. Such a plan would have no force in itself, but the Republicans in Congress are likely to use such a plan as a blueprint for legislation that could actually eliminate agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Department of Education.
It’s dark days when education, health care, housing, arts, and community development are on the block… but does it have to be that way?
Trump’s executive order contains a provision allowing for public input into the plan for governmental reorganization. It reads: “The Director shall publish a notice in the Federal Register inviting the public to suggest improvements in the organization and functioning of the executive branch and shall consider the suggestions when formulating the proposed plan.”
The plan is required to consider “whether the costs of continuing to operate an agency, a component, or a program are justified by the public benefits it provides”.
So, we could simply watch while corporate groups send in their suggestions for eliminating the agencies that hold them accountable and protect the American people, or we can draft our own alternative suggestions.
What if we made public comment to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, noting the fact that the Department of Homeland Security does not actually face a large terrorist threat – that more people in the United States are killed by horses than are killed by terrorists? What if we made public comment observing that the military was completely useless in stopping the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and that the United States has not faced a war on its own territory since the 1800s?
Rather than sitting on the sidelines, we could urge the Office of Management and Budget to draft a plan to eliminate the unnecessary Department of Homeland Security, and to drastically reduce the size and redundancies of the Department of Defense.
What’s good for the goose is good for the security state and the military industrial complex.