Some DOGE and other wishes

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

It is difficult to find an exact number of federal workers fired by DOGE thus far. What with judges overturning executive branch decisions (how is that even possible?) and general confusion in the reporting, one can make the case for perhaps 200,000.  

With a federal workforce of 2.3 million, not including the military or the post office, this is less than 10%.

My wish would be that the number go back to at least the number of federal workers in 2000, which was 1.9 million, a reduction of 17%, but 25% would make me even happier and the government a lot more efficient.

The government appears to finally be holding universities accountable for their actions. It is about time. Using federal funds to raise up terrorists who want to destroy us never made sense.

How about NPR and PBS? These are federal propaganda mouthpieces that make Pravda of the old Soviet days blush. When these were founded, there were three television networks and many independent radio stations. Maybe they were needed back then (the late 1960s), but why now? 

The programs I like on PBS, they want to charge to see again and block on YouTube. Why? I have already paid for them through my taxes. 

While we are at it, let’s get out of the UN. It is a farce of an organization and has been for a very long time. This is not a new idea. I remember about 1970, I was commuting southbound on I-75 in Cincinnati and along about Lockland, there was a small billboard that said, “Get US out of the UN.”  

I agreed with that idea then and 55 years’ experience since has not changed my mind. The UN has wasted an incalculable amount of US taxpayer money.

I would like for us to sell all the US land holdings, too (but not to a foreign power).  We could go a long way toward paying down the national debt with this divestiture.  

And I would either (a) include the national parks in this sale or (b) raise the entrance fees on the national parks to a number that matches the demand. If a national park is having to schedule visits (and many of them are), that is an indication the fees are too low. The other idea I have had here is to sell them to Disney, they know how to run parks. The only problem with this is Disney is a woke corporation. How did this happen?

Finally, let’s require all 18-year-olds to spend two years in public service (military or otherwise). This is a place for discipline (if they did not learn it at home) and good eating and exercise habits. And, no, I didn’t do this, but as I approach the three quarter of a century mark, it is a regret of mine. I did do seven years in the Georgia State Defense Force, starting when I was 59, but that is not the same as putting a young adult through a rigorous training program.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga. and is a columnist for The Highland County Press. He can be reached at jthompson@taii.com.