4 ms·

I don't fault this guy for wanting to join DOGE and make a difference. The fact that he was able to make a few phone calls and actually get hired into an influe

by paxys 2y ago

I don't fault this guy for wanting to join DOGE and make a difference. The fact that he was able to make a few phone calls and actually get hired into an influential position despite having zero background in government, civics, economics, finance etc. should, however, tell you everything you need to know about the department and its brain trust. I wonder what will happen to all these Signal conversations when the inevitable scandals/lawsuits/inquiries happen. Surely the public will be able to scrutinize them right?

khazhoux 2y ago
> The fact that he was able to make a few phone calls and actually get hired into an influential position despite having zero background in government, civics, economics, finance etc. should, however, tell you everything you need to know about the department and its brain trust I have no interest in defending Elon, but this assessment is unfair. Recall how during the Obama transition, a bunch of Silicon Valley'ers got hired in to help modernize government tech (and doubly so after the disastrous obamacare website rollout). Very few of those people had experience in govt, civics, etc.
- gkoberger 2y ago
  There's a difference between "building tech for the government" and whatever governmental cosplaying DOGE is doing.
- paxys 2y ago
  Slight difference between asking techies to modernize government tech and asking them to retool the entire federal government.
- 616c 2y ago
  You can listen to their own description of their strategy and tactics. It was every different from the contemporary counterpoint. They reformed one system one subsystem at a time by working with the current owners and tech staff and teaching them their approach. https://changelog.com/gotime/154 https://changelog.com/gotime/154 I knew contractors in their wake working at companies that grew out of their work in CMS, such as Ad Hoc (a name of the original team to not be called WHITE HOUSE HOT SHOTS or DOGE or something similarly jarring to thereby take agency away from the people who had to you know do the work once they knew they'd roll off) and Nava as they expanded beyond that one system 5 years later. Let's see how the braggadocios we'll solve all the problems at once flavor of the moment goes, then judge the healthcare.gov teams.
- bbddg 2y ago
  Yeah and it was probably equally craven and opportunistic to bring them in as well.
bccdee 2y ago
Yeah I find that anecdote incredibly revealing as to the way wealthy people move through political spaces. No offence to the author of the blog post, but he was the CTO of a company that sold video conferencing software—what on Earth would he know about public governance? Pick a random student with a BA in public policy & administration off the graduating class of 2024's honour roll, and I bet they'd do a better job at doing whatever "DOGE" is supposed to do than this guy would.
- andreilys 2y ago
  We've tried that for decades, and look where it's gotten us. Policy wonks and lawyers have run America into the ground with reckless spending and forever wars. I would venture that introducing fresh ideas and technologists with first principles thinking will yield better results.
  - spacephysics 2y ago
    Fully agree. The academia gatekeeping in certain fields hasn’t served us well over the last decade or so. Fresh ideas from individuals with experience from all walks of life should be entertained. Doesn’t mean they’ll be followed. Furthermore, DOGE has no actual power administratively, really all they can do is advise. Congress would need to grant them power first. Saagar Enjeti gas a good take on this, he’s pretty well versed in Washington-Speak
    - nurple 2y ago
      I enjoyed his recent conversation with Lex, but I lost quite a bit of respect for his opinion on politics when he called the Cambridge Analytica scandal nonsense.
    - etc-hosts 2y ago
      The DOGE guys + Executive branch will try to get the Supreme Court to rule that the phrase "take care" in the Constitution means that the President has the power to fire any government employee at any time. https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S3-3-1/ALDE_00001160/ https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S3-3-1/...
stepupmakeup 2y ago
Maybe we'll get some funny "Elon Musk: please set the self destruction timer to 30 seconds" in court documents just like Google.
- BlueTemplar 2y ago
  Related : Scottish Government bans use of WhatsApp for official business (2024) https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-government-bans-use-of-whatsapp-for-official-business-4913532 https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-government-b... > The decision follows a fierce backlash over the mass deletion of messages by ministers and officials during the Covid pandemic.
purplethinking 2y ago
You mean, what will happen when we get to Episode 5: The Deep State Strikes Back?

by paxys 2y ago

khazhoux 2y ago

> The fact that he was able to make a few phone calls and actually get hired into an influential position despite having zero background in government, civics, economics, finance etc. should, however, tell you everything you need to know about the department and its brain trust I have no interest in defending Elon, but this assessment is unfair. Recall how during the Obama transition, a bunch of Silicon Valley'ers got hired in to help modernize government tech (and doubly so after the disastrous obamacare website rollout). Very few of those people had experience in govt, civics, etc.

gkoberger 2y ago
There's a difference between "building tech for the government" and whatever governmental cosplaying DOGE is doing.
paxys 2y ago
Slight difference between asking techies to modernize government tech and asking them to retool the entire federal government.
616c 2y ago
You can listen to their own description of their strategy and tactics. It was every different from the contemporary counterpoint. They reformed one system one subsystem at a time by working with the current owners and tech staff and teaching them their approach. https://changelog.com/gotime/154 https://changelog.com/gotime/154 I knew contractors in their wake working at companies that grew out of their work in CMS, such as Ad Hoc (a name of the original team to not be called WHITE HOUSE HOT SHOTS or DOGE or something similarly jarring to thereby take agency away from the people who had to you know do the work once they knew they'd roll off) and Nava as they expanded beyond that one system 5 years later. Let's see how the braggadocios we'll solve all the problems at once flavor of the moment goes, then judge the healthcare.gov teams.
bbddg 2y ago
Yeah and it was probably equally craven and opportunistic to bring them in as well.

bccdee 2y ago

Yeah I find that anecdote incredibly revealing as to the way wealthy people move through political spaces. No offence to the author of the blog post, but he was the CTO of a company that sold video conferencing software—what on Earth would he know about public governance? Pick a random student with a BA in public policy & administration off the graduating class of 2024's honour roll, and I bet they'd do a better job at doing whatever "DOGE" is supposed to do than this guy would.

andreilys 2y ago
We've tried that for decades, and look where it's gotten us. Policy wonks and lawyers have run America into the ground with reckless spending and forever wars. I would venture that introducing fresh ideas and technologists with first principles thinking will yield better results.
- spacephysics 2y ago
  Fully agree. The academia gatekeeping in certain fields hasn’t served us well over the last decade or so. Fresh ideas from individuals with experience from all walks of life should be entertained. Doesn’t mean they’ll be followed. Furthermore, DOGE has no actual power administratively, really all they can do is advise. Congress would need to grant them power first. Saagar Enjeti gas a good take on this, he’s pretty well versed in Washington-Speak
  - nurple 2y ago
    I enjoyed his recent conversation with Lex, but I lost quite a bit of respect for his opinion on politics when he called the Cambridge Analytica scandal nonsense.
  - etc-hosts 2y ago
    The DOGE guys + Executive branch will try to get the Supreme Court to rule that the phrase "take care" in the Constitution means that the President has the power to fire any government employee at any time. https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S3-3-1/ALDE_00001160/ https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S3-3-1/...

stepupmakeup 2y ago

Maybe we'll get some funny "Elon Musk: please set the self destruction timer to 30 seconds" in court documents just like Google.

BlueTemplar 2y ago
Related : Scottish Government bans use of WhatsApp for official business (2024) https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-government-bans-use-of-whatsapp-for-official-business-4913532 https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/scottish-government-b... > The decision follows a fierce backlash over the mass deletion of messages by ministers and officials during the Covid pandemic.

purplethinking 2y ago

You mean, what will happen when we get to Episode 5: The Deep State Strikes Back?