There is understandable frustration among the public with the implementation of executive orders coming out of the White House and with the mandates from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that are being issued one day, only to be withdrawn the next. While there are a growing number of lawsuits being filed to stop the illegality of these actions by the Trump administration, there are also growing numbers of people who are frustrated with the apparent slow response of elected officials whose constitutional duty is to provide checks and balances to the actions of the executive branch. While it is easy to break things, standing on constitutional law takes time. After all, our Constitution is a blueprint for government by, for and of the people. It was ratified in 1788 and has taken us a long time to build a nation that comes close to living up to those ideals.
A number of local residents have suggested that we seek out and share stories from folks in our local communities about how the upheaval coming out of Washington DC is impacting them personally. What follows is an attempt to do just that.
The identities of respondents will be protected, at their request.
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I have been a federal employee for almost a decade. I chose this career to serve the public and to benefit from what has traditionally been a stable and secure line of work. I have gone through two previous presidential transitions without many adverse effects on my workplace or on my ability to serve my agency’s mission.
The actions of DOGE in the last month have been incredibly destabilizing to my life and the lives of my colleagues. I am unsure if I will be able to continue in my federal position and the uncertainty has created a lot of stress for me and my family. Every week, my colleagues and I face new questions about the future of our jobs (Will we be fired? Will we be forced to commute or move somewhere far away to keep our jobs?) and are peppered with directives and public messaging that are designed to demoralize us. In the midst of this chaotic environment, we continue to do our work as best we can and support each other.
As a civil servant who took an oath to follow the laws and constitution of the United States, it is completely demoralizing to see Elon Musk and his team break countless laws in his quest to destroy the government under the cover of eliminating inefficiencies. To make the government more efficient, you have to genuinely care about the functions of government in the first place, and Musk and Trump clearly do not.
In addition to DOGE’s disregard for federal laws that govern federal employment and security, their communications to us federal employees have been completely unprofessional and demeaning (for example, the widely publicized Fork in the Road email). The guidance we have received has been haphazard and contradictory, often lacking in basic knowledge of my agency, our mission, and what we are accomplishing on a day-to-day basis. The upper management of my agency are wonderful people who have always supported the workforce, but they are being bypassed in all decisions by Trump’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Musk’s DOGE. It is perfectly clear to me that Musk is not the genius he has been proclaimed to be and that DOGE will only break things. But, you do not need a genius to break things and it seems that is the whole point. I fear that many of the government services people take for granted will be destroyed by the actions of DOGE. These government services flow from the laws passed by our elected representatives and DOGE is flouting the democratic will of the people.
