Ignore the pundits — DOGE is the future

If the mainstream media is to be believed, DOGE represents an existential threat to the American republic.

Ask the average American, on the other hand, and you’ll discover high levels of enthusiasm for DOGE and its projected US$500 billion in federal savings.

Results from a Harvard Caps/Harris poll released this week reveal levels of support for the initiative that have surprised even the Trump camp.

When asked if the current level of federal government debt is unsustainable, 67 percent of voters agreed, while 83 percent favoured reducing expenditure over increasing taxes.

Drilling down further, 77 percent said a full probe of government expenditure is needed, 70 percent agreed the government is “filled with waste, fraud, and inefficiency” — and most significantly, 60 percent of voters feel DOGE is moving the needle on these glaring problems.

The outrage machine might be in overdrive, in other words, but real-world data suggests the latest spat of Musk Derangement Syndrome is astroturfed.

It’s also a tip-off that the media outlets, politicians, NGOs and federal agencies that are squealing the loudest likely have the most to lose — and that’s great news for struggling US taxpayers who’ve been forced to fund their largesse for far too long.

Looking at the Trump administration more broadly, signs are all around that the voters are happy with their pick back in November.

A CNN poll taken shortly after Inauguration Day found Trump’s net approval rating was at its highest ever, even surpassing any point in his first term.

It’s been mostly up from there. A CBS News poll pegged Trump’s job approval at 53 percent, with 70 percent of Americans feeling he’s delivering on his campaign promises.

Meanwhile, Rasmussen Reports found that 47 percent of Americans now believe the country is on the “ right track” versus 46 percent saying the opposite —  a net positive never seen in 20 years of polling, and way up on the 28 percent reported under Biden last September.

Arthur Schopenhauer might have been a lousy philosopher, but he was right about one thing: “All truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident.”

Watch this space: It is my strong suspicion that Departments of Government Efficiency will begin popping up in many more Western democracies over the coming decade.

It’s worth noting that the E in the DOGE acronym is largely possible thanks to recent advances in artificial intelligence, which Musk and his team are leveraging in their war on fraud, waste and abuse.

At agencies like the Department of Education, Microsoft’s Azure AI platform is reportedlyanalysing every dollar spent to expose hidden waste in contracts, travel reimbursements and more.

Indeed, Musk has flagged $100 billion in potential Medicare and Medicaid savings and credited this to AI’s ability to detect irregularities easily overlooked by human auditors.

Using AI for such tasks does not come without its commensurate risks, as the corporate press has been at pains to point out. But what AI can identify, humans can later verify. The trick is finding anomalies in the first place, given the sprawling monstrosity that is the US federal government with its more than 400 agencies and departments.

If serious AI data breaches do materialise, I will be the first to eat humble pie. But for now, I’m bullish on a project that was both politically and technologically unimaginable until now.

At this very moment, nameless, faceless hordes lurk in the shadows, scheming how they might weaponise artificial intelligence against our human dignity and inalienable freedoms.

Yet when the world’s most successful entrepreneur wields AI against the excesses of Big Government, not only is he demonised but — in a fit of irony — called a fascist.

More orchestrated than organic, all the hullabaloo from the media and bureaucratic class is failing to pass the sniff test.

They hate it for the same reason taxpayers love it — their grift is finally being exposed.

Just wait until they pretend they supported it all along.

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AUTHOR

Kurt Mahlburg

Kurt Mahlburg is a writer and author, and an emerging Australian voice on culture and the Christian faith. He has a passion for both the philosophical and the personal, drawing on his background as a graduate architect, a primary school teacher, a missionary, and a young adult pastor.

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