A New American Crisis
“These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. “
~Thomas Paine
Given the extreme rhetoric that has charged our country’s media and conversation over the last decade, what follows is not undertaken lightly. We are a nation in crisis.
Bureaucracy is frequently treated as a dirty word, wielded by people preaching for smaller, more efficient government. We frequently see individuals inside and outside of office railing against the mechanism that allows our government to function. Government runs slowly and it is an easy scapegoat for people to target. Many people upon hearing that the USAID and Treasury departments were invaded by Elon Musk’s DOGE and his army of admirers and private employees from his companies, might have shrugged or cheered because someone is finally doing something about our “bloated government.” Those of us who understand that the individuals who work in our government are frequently among the most educated in their fields may have cringed or felt sick to their stomachs. Some of the most complete accounts of what happened within those departments come from unlikely sources. For example the Rolling Stone published a chilling essay written by a government official from the department of USAID.
Two Departments under attack
The two compromised departments are as different as they could be. The treasury system contains critical data about every American who works for the government, who receives checks from the government, like social security. It also handles payments to organizations receiving grants and federal contractors. The scope of this 6 trillion dollar enterprise is astonishing and the newly minted Secretary of the Treasury is alleged by the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee to have granted this sweeping access. This seems to be a page right from Musk’s 2022 take over of Twitter. He removed servers, refused to pay employee contracts, and failed to pay his rent. If Twitter’s subsequent performance is a look at our future as a country, the loss of financial stability and reputation of the company is a damning prediction.
The invasion of USAID is both horrifying from a practical and symbolic standpoint. Founded by JFK, the USAID department represented one of the three pillars of America’s position on the world stage; Defense (DOD), Diplomacy (State Department), and Development. USAID was the mechanism by which America does its best work abroad, helping distribute vaccines, famine and disaster relief, and projects designed to lift people from suffering. Domestically speaking, it appears to be a test to see how far DOGE can get away with reshaping our much maligned bureaucracy to his own liking. USAID is an easy target with howls of “yeah, spend those dollars on Americans,” sprouting up across social media. The resources from USAID will likely never end up in the pockets of those individuals, but will serve to pad the accounts of the Bro-ligarchy. Internationally this push for an American First pull back into isolationism is going to leave a vacuum and a question of who will fill it. What world power will take our place? Or will it be more local, with cartels and terrorist organizations filling the void?
The employees left in limbo are doing their level best to raise the alarm, helpless as Musk steam rolls our institutions with the promise of a pardon from Trump were he to stray too far into treason territory. Subject matter experts with decades of experience are left wondering if they still have a job, let alone a pension or insurance. For those outside, looking in, we are left wondering which department is next; there are several candidates outlined in Project 2025.
What can we do?
We can do very little. It is almost impossible to block a Trump appointment, without Republicans breaking ranks. Congressional and Judiciary guardrails have been removed by an electorate that refused to vote in November. That’s not to say we shouldn’t be calling our Senators and Representatives, because they are getting flooded with calls from the opposition and we need to be a counterpoint to those voices.
However, at this point, the only real power that remains is in our decentralized system of government. These state’s rights can be used for good, protecting the citizens who live within. Because they only go so far, we must look to spending the next two years building the infrastructure for the 2026 election. 2026 will bring changes to our local government by shaping the school boards and the makeup of the city of Mt. Pleasant. Statewide, it is critical that we elect successors to our state government that will protect us and our ideals; most of our major players are term limited and will be forced out. Our state Attorney General has been an important player in this current struggle, we need to find someone who will fight as hard for us. It is equally critical that we change the makeup of congress. With control of the House and Senate we could finally put the brakes on this madness and begin to undo the damage.
Two Years is a Long Time
In the meantime, we need to continue to develop relationships amongst ourselves and our counterparts in the Congressional District 2 counties. We need to continue to hold our elected officials accountable, while realizing that they are limited in their power to fight back. While this is terrifying to some and disheartening to others, we can take solace in knowing that this is nothing new. The coup has used new technologies, but the playbook is the same as it was before. We need to get creative about how we go forward. We need to take care of each other as we live under more emotional, legal, and financial stress. This is not a fight that will be won overnight, but to borrow from Thomas Paine once more:
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.
