The Bureaucrats vs the Elected Officials

For John, BLUF:  Some believe that the Federal Bureaucracy has aa block of officials who aree dedicated to resisting the Administration of President Donald Trump, Version 2.0.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Leftist Ideologues Dominating the Federal Civil Service Have Created a New Version of the Spoils System

From PJ Media, by Mark Tapscott, 17 January 2025, 7:07 PM.

Here is the lede plus two:

This won't shock anybody who served time working in the government bureaucracy, but the biggest obstacle facing President-elect Donald Trump likely isn't the Elite Media or the Deep State, but rather the management ranks of the career federal civil service.

"Wait a minute, Tapscott," you may be muttering. "Are you telling us that nameless, faceless bureaucrats are going to be more powerful and influential in blocking Trump's Make America Great Again (MAGA) agenda than the 'journalists' at ABC/CBS/NBC/New York Times/Washington Post and the political plumbers of the Intelligence Community?"

Why yes, that is exactly what I am saying, and Exhibit A here is a recent survey conducted for the Napolitan Institute by RMG Research of 500 federal civil service managers being paid at least $75,000 and living in the Washington, D.C., region.

Like myself, the author comes from a family of Federal Bureaucrats, he more in depth and my more in breadth.  But, like me, he wonders if the gains from the Pendleton Act of 1883 are beeing sustaijned or perverted.  As we recall, a merit based Civil Service was introduced because of the assassination of President James A. Garfield in 1881, by a disappointed office seeker.

Today we have an entrenched Civil Service which seems, in part, to see itself as the fourth branch of government (the Fourth Estate, pushing aside the Press), responsible for protecting the Government from the actions of Congress and the President, and the Supreme Court.  They are the Technocrats running the Administrative State.

A survey of 500 federal civil service managers being paid at least $75,000 and living in the Washington, DC, region, by RMG Research for the Napolitan Institute, found "42% of those federal managers surveyed declared their intent to either strongly oppose or oppose Trump once he is sworn in and back in the Oval Office".  That does not strike me as show a Democracy should work.  That is surrendering control of our lives to self-prepetuating Administrators.

But, on the bright side:

44%, said they would either strongly support or support Trump's agenda.  But then we read that among the federal managers who identified themselves as Democrats, two-thirds said they would actively oppose orders advancing Trump policies.

But, most revolutions are brought about by a small group with the belief that they are correct and the vast majority is either wrong or clueless.  Revolutions are brought about by groups less that 40% of the population.

If you are an anti-Trumper and you are counting on the Bureaucracy to control President Trump you are showing Fascist tendencies.  What you should have done was work harder to see Candidate Kamala Harris elected.  What you did was not sufficient.  You failed.

The negative attitude toward Bureaucrats and a Bureaucratic State were expressed Friday by Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT).  He noted "This Country Was Not Founded by 65-Year-Old Bureaucrats".  Granted, Ben Franklin was 70 years old when the Declaration of Independence was drawn up, but the writer was Thomas Jefferson, at 33.

There is an importance place in our system for a meritocratic professional Civil Service.  But, they are there to implement the laws as passed by Congress and administered by the Elected President.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff