Recently, I had the opportunity to experience government efficiency at work, and I am so very grateful.
While getting boarding passes to fly to France on a recent Friday, I was told my passport would expire before our return, so I could not get on the plane. Needless to say, panic ensued before grief set in. Fortunately, San Francisco has one of three offices in California with same-day passport service. With great hope and high anxiety, I was in line at the Federal Building at 7:30am Monday morning. At 8am, a security guard let me inside. By 9:30am, I had an appointment. At 3:30pm, I picked up my new passport.
People, this is our government (and our taxes) at work for us.
Every employee that day was kind, helpful and “efficient.” Meanwhile, Donald Trump and his cronies are working tirelessly to eliminate federal agencies and fire federal employees. Why? Because they think nothing has value unless it profits them personally.
Right now, they are gunning for Social Security and the U.S. Postal Service. True, efforts to privatize both precede Trump. But until 47, there was never a federal agency with the purpose and authorization to destroy other federal agencies.
DOGE was created to dismantle our government so that wealthy businesspeople could buy and profit from critical government services. Social Security and the Postal Service are just two of the largest and most visible agencies the Trump regime is trying to dismantle.
We may never know the extent to which DOGE accessed and utilized our private information when Musk’s techies invaded Social Security Administration offices. We do know that 7,000 jobs were cut and dozens of offices were closed. Ten thousand postal workers were forced out.
Trump, who has made at least $3 billion as president, and Musk, who has profited to the tune of $38 billion from U.S. government contracts, will never need Social Security or the USPS. But for millions of Americans, these agencies are absolute lifelines. Is DOGE going to audit Musk’s contracts? Or Trump’s taxes? The hypocrisy could not be more blatant.
Inanna LaFevre is a North Bay-based writer.
