Trump’s “DOGE” — “Department of Government Efficiency” — is on a quest to slash government spending. The department is set to be run by tech billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who claim that two trillion dollars in spending can be eliminated by cutting government programs and employees.
In 2024, the government spent $6.75 trillion, so this would mean cutting almost a third of the federal budget. And what was the majority of that money spent on? Social Security, Medicare, and National Defense. Veteran benefits are also high on the list. So… which of those exactly do Musk and Ramaswamy plan to cut?
But good government can do so much more than that. We talked to MN Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan this week about what government can bring to our lives. Clean drinking water? That’s government. Good public schools? Government. Plowed and de-iced roads after a snowstorm? Government. Responding to a public health crisis? Government. And don’t even get us started on Paid Family and Medical Leave programs.
Lt. Gov Flanagan herself lived in Section 8 housing as a young child and now serves in the second-highest office in the state of Minnesota. Would she have been able to “pay it back and pay it forward,” as she says, without that public investment in the roof over her head?
So when you hear someone ask “what good is government?” or say “oh, I just don’t do politics,” you can tell them all the ways that government contributes to our lives. Whether or not you’re into politics, politics is into you.
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