We the Shareholders of the United States, in Order to Form a More Efficient Union
The government cannot be run as a business.
The United States is a capitalist society. We thrive on the notion of free markets, driven by supply and demand. American businesses require agility and responsiveness to survive — otherwise, their customers will go elsewhere, taking their money with them.
It is not a new argument that our government should be run like a business. In fact, it has been a constant line within the Republican party for decades. What has changed in recent weeks are the businessmen in charge of our country. President Trump and Elon Musk, director of the Department of Governmental Efficiency, have asked nearly all 2.3 million federal employees to agree to a deferred resignation (with unclear directions on if they will be expected to work and without Congressional approval for the spend), locked high-level officials out of their computers, and have promised to abolish several federal agencies (which can only be done through law — an act of Congress), all within the first several weeks of the new administration.
Proponents of this slash-and-burn approach to government either fail to realize or choose to ignore a fundamental truth: government is not about profit and loyalty. To be clear, I fully support efforts to improve government efficiency — reducing red tape for benefits, shorter lines at the DMV, and fixing roads and bridges faster. However, applying a business efficiency model to government is neither appropriate nor feasible.
If the government were a business, we as American citizens would simultaneously serve as the Board of Directors (appointing and holding our elected officials accountable through elections), the shareholders (investing in the government’s success through taxes), and the consumers (benefiting from essential services such as infrastructure, welfare programs, public radio, Social Security, and Medicare/Medicaid).
Businesses exist to benefit their shareholders through profits, but government exists to benefit citizens through services, regardless of their profitability. However, like a business, the United States Government has a mission statement… Of the People, By the People, For the People.
The agencies currently under threat of closure — like the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency — are critical examples of the government’s role in serving the public good. The Department of Education helps ensure that schools across the country receive equitable funding through federal grants, so that every student, regardless of zip code, has access to a quality education. The EPA protects public health through clean air and water regulations; prepares for, prevents, and responds to oil spills, chemical, biological, and radiological releases, and works to reduce the impacts of toxins associated with cancer. These agencies don’t exist to turn a profit; they exist to uphold the very mission the government was founded on: serving the people.
The government at all levels is intended to serve the people through information, resources, justice, and accountability. When a single branch of government wields its power to scrub healthcare information from the internet, halt funding for medical research, and eliminate 99.97% of an organization’s workforce, it is not interested in serving the people.
Governments are responsible for ensuring their actions are ethical, high-quality, and have positive long-term effects. However, I would argue that ethics, quality, and long-term stability have not been key considerations in this administration’s decision-making process. The federal employees being locked out or pressured to resign are not political appointees; they are career employees whose job is to carry out the functions of government as prescribed by the legislative branch to serve the American people. In pushing them out, the government loses its institutional knowledge- knowledge essential to keeping it running effectively. We cannot afford to have an inoperable government. Seniors will miss their social security checks, the under-employed will lose access to food supplement programs, and responses to natural disasters could be delayed or underfunded. While privatized solutions may help fill some gaps, piecemeal solutions to large-scale issues will inevitably mean some individuals will fall through the cracks. The burden of these changes will be felt by our most vulnerable citizens — the very people who need government support the most.
The nature of governments rises above profits and losses. Governments are in the business of their people.
The United States Government is not a business Donald Trump and Elon Musk can slash and rebuild. It is an institution under which all Americans should be represented and protected. Every publicly traded organization in America undergoes an annual audit and they don’t have to lay off 10% of their staff to do it. If this administration wants to keep treating our country like a corporation, let’s not forget — we, the people, hold the real shares — and our next shareholder meeting is just four years away.
