Shed a Little Light SUE JANE SULLIVAN
More than any other country in the history of the world, twenty-first century United States should be functioning like a well-oiled machine. Many factors have aligned to help us be the best-ever version of humanity because this nation has in its quiver these arrows:
• the lens of thousands of years of history to serve as a teacher
• technology at its fingertips
• scientific achievements that improve the quality of life
• a brilliantly constructed Constitution
• national treasures in baseball, March Madness, and In-N-Out Burger So, what is wrong with us? Don’t blame this atmosphere on “straying from our Christian roots.” We can’t even agree on what Christianity is. The red-letter words of Jesus’s compassion are now considered to be toxic empathy according to a deacon named Ben Garrett who posted, “Do not commit the sin of empathy” after an Episcopalian priest dared to pray for such in the presence of the president.
Many in this country are just stuck in a pattern, facilitated by social media, of winning and losing arguments. If a podcaster or billionaire interloper can get a million likes by saying or posting a few words that will inflame his or her followers, then by golly that’s how reform is going to happen. Did anyone bother to gather agency heads, have adult conversations, and work together to trim the fat of government expenditures?
I am of the notion that reform comes from thoughtful restructuring with intent to improve. Real movers and shakers are persistent but wise, having foresight as to the repercussions of the necessary changes. Movers and shakers in 2025 are counting the number of likes on a X post or video.
Is efficiency reform needed? By all means. Saving money, protecting our taxpayer interests, and cutting waste are necessary assignments. But financial analyst and cost cutter Sean Kernan explains the difference between an axe and a ruler. What is needed, he says, is precision.
“There’s plenty of savings to be had in government, and in most governments for that matter. Fraud, waste, and inefficiencies all exist in spades. A government isn’t run like a business. They are especially bureaucratic, and prone to accumulating redundancies and outdated processes. However, you typically have a systematic, measured process for reducing and streamlining these services. You don’t take a hatchet to the system” (Medium, Feb. 12, 2025) Let me explain it this way. Children need discipline, but we don’t lock them up, starve them, and beat them.
Waving around a chainsaw on stage to symbolize one’s power to slash government bureaucracy is akin to swatting a fly with a cannon just because it’s fun and entertaining and gets thumbs up and chest thumping from the audience. Maybe we will get that $5,000 check from all the savings claimed from the slash-and-burn, but beware of the smoke and mirrors of such a gesture.
What we are watching now is a reality television show in search of better ratings, not more efficient government. It does matter how a job gets done.
Anyone who works in demolition knows this. Otherwise, the implosion’s destruction can do more harm than good.
Snyder, Texas, native Sue Jane Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher whose thought-provoking commentary appears occasionally in several West Texas newspapers, including The Texas Spur and The Caprock Courier.
