Government Waste Is a Bipartisan Disease — And It’s Time for a Cure
Both parties helped build this mess. Now it’s on us to force the reforms they’re too scared or self-righteous to touch.
The Real Swamp Isn’t Partisan — It’s Bloated
Economist Thomas Sowell doesn’t need viral clips or hot takes to be relevant. In a recent interview, he dug into one of the most persistent and devastating failures in American governance: government waste — and the lack of competitive pressure that allows it to thrive.
His target? Both parties. His conclusion? The rot is bipartisan.
“One party lies about wanting to shrink the government. The other brags about growing it. The result? Both keep feeding the beast.”
— Thomas Sowell
And he’s not wrong. No matter who’s in charge, the machine keeps growing — consuming tax dollars, ballooning agencies, duplicating programs, and insulating itself from reform. The government has become a self-serving organism, and the American people are stuck paying the bill.
Two Faces of the Same Fraud
Sowell nailed it: both parties have institutionalized waste — but they disguise it differently.
The GOP sells the idea of small government and fiscal restraint. It’s a core identity claim. But when push comes to shove, they never deliver. Why? Because the cuts they talk about require courage they don’t have. Trimming a bloated budget means upsetting donors, defense contractors, unions, and entire voting blocs. Instead, they grandstand and do nothing.
The Democrats, meanwhile, celebrate big government. They treat every spending increase as a moral victory. To them, expanding bureaucracies and layering on programs is “compassion.” Whether or not it works is secondary. What matters is the performance of virtue.
This isn’t dysfunction by accident. It’s a rigged performance, where both sides get what they want:
- Republicans get talking points.
- Democrats get agencies and appropriations.
And we — the public — get waste, debt, and inefficiency.
For more on how this bipartisan shell game plays out, I’ve written about it here.
Fixing the Waste: Real Solutions That Hurt (But Work)
Let’s drop the euphemisms and look at the numbers.
across just 68 programs, according to the Government Accountability Office. That’s not a rounding error. That’s theft by incompetence. And worse, three-quarters of those bad payments came from just five programs.
Senator Rand Paul’s annual — a year-end audit of stupidity in government spending — tagged over $1 trillion in waste in 2024. Here’s just a taste:
- $12 million for a luxury pickleball complex in Las Vegas
- $4.8 million funneled to Ukrainian “influencers”
- $90 billion sunk into the failed Littoral Combat Ship program
That’s not charity. That’s not strategy. That’s fiscal malpractice.
And then there’s DOGE — the Department of Government Efficiency — finally trying to put the brakes on this disaster. Under Elon Musk’s leadership, DOGE claims to have slashed $150 billion in costs. Predictably, it’s been met with fury from entrenched interests, media hacks, and political lifers who benefit from the dysfunction.
Yes, there have been growing pains. Yes, the rollouts haven’t been perfect. But the fact that cutting waste is now treated as radical tells you everything you need to know about how broken the system really is.
So, let’s stop pretending this is some unsolvable mystery. The waste is real. The tools to fix it are real. But so is the resistance.
That’s why we need serious, structural reform — starting with these three common-sense tools:
This isn’t about trimming excess — it’s about flipping the system. Every government agency starts from zero each fiscal year. No assumptions. No automatic funding increases. Every dollar must be justified from the ground up — every single year.
Right now, federal programs live forever. With sunset clauses, every law or agency would have a built-in expiration date — unless Congress actively votes to renew it. It forces regular reviews and kills off the “zombie” programs no one wants to take responsibility for.- Competitive Contracting
Instead of no-bid, insider sweetheart deals, the government opens services, like IT, construction, logistics, or even DMV operations, to private sector competition. Whoever delivers the best results at the lowest cost wins the contract. It’s not ideological. It’s just smart.
They work. But we’ll have to fight like hell to make them happen.
The Musk Problem: Fix It, and They’ll Hate You for It
For years, Americans have raged against bloated government, inefficiency, and the unchecked spread of federal power. Politicians campaign on it. Journalists write exposés about it. Voters gripe about it.
But the second someone actually tries to fix it? The knives come out.
Enter Elon Musk.
Love him or hate him, Musk did something most billionaires wouldn’t dare: he stepped directly into the political firestorm by leading the . His goal was clear — streamline federal spending, eliminate waste, and bring private-sector discipline to public-sector chaos.
And for that, he’s been vilified.
His name is dragged across headlines daily. Pundits accuse him of authoritarianism, recklessness, and cruelty. Bureaucrats leak half-truths. Lawmakers cry foul. Media outlets that once celebrated innovation now paint him as a villain for trying to fix what they’ve spent decades complaining about.
Let’s be honest: this isn’t really about Musk.
It’s about what he represents — accountability, disruption, and a threat to entrenched power.
And in Washington, nothing is more dangerous than someone who actually wants to make the system work better.
So, when Elon Musk slashes $150 billion in waste through DOGE, the establishment doesn’t applaud — they panic. Not because they think it won’t work, but because deep down, they fear that it will.
And that tells you everything you need to know.
We Know What Works. Now We Need the Will.
We’ve diagnosed the disease: waste, fraud, cowardice, and bureaucracy.
We’ve identified the cure: structure, reform, and discipline.
And we’ve seen what happens to those brave (or foolish) enough to challenge the system from within.
So the question isn’t what to do. It’s whether we’ll fight to get it done.
Zero-based budgeting. Sunset clauses. Competitive contracting. These are not radical ideas. They’re basic requirements in any serious institution, except the government.
Let’s change that.
Demand more. Push harder. Stop tolerating dysfunction just because it’s familiar.
The real threat to democracy isn’t reform. It’s decay.
And decay only wins when we stop caring enough to fight back.
