Of all the exhilarating reforms taking place under the new administration, perhaps the best of all is the rooting-out of rot and waste and corruption by the new Department Of Government Efficiency, headed up by Elon Musk. It has already struck a mighty blow by shutting down the tumorous bureaucratic excrescence known as the United States Agency For International Development (USAID), which, as many have long suspected, was little more than a subterranean sluiceway for money-laundering and grift. I’m sure we can expect a great deal more in the weeks and months to come.
It occurred to me, as I read the news of what DOGE has already accomplished at USAID, that the perfect motto for the agency would be this verse (3:10) from the Gospel of Matthew:
“Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”