D.O.G.E. A Revolution?
Tomorrow the American people will find out what response there is to a nationwide #teslatakedown call to hurt Elon Musk financially via damaging his well-known company, Tesla.
Source: Fox News article on 2020 riots
Whatever happens, how accurately will it be reported to them? Some pretense of being "mostly peaceful," as they have experienced before?
While we wait to find out, what did Tesla do to bring on this nationwide call for protest?
I am not personally a fan of President Trump's continual reference to anything like, "it's never been seen before!" Arguably the reference to D.O.G.E. as a revolution may be viewed as a legitimate exception.
It is truly remarkable how much detail has been brought out into the light about the scope and depth of "waste, fraud, and abuse" in the various federal bureaucracies subject to D.O.G.E. analyses. Can that be debated?
Well, of course it can. While I have never been a fan of the simplicity of classifying us at all, the common political references are to the Left and the Right. What are too many of those classified as being on the Left publicly portrayed as arguing about their view of the D.O.G.E. "revolution?"
Misdirection
The efforts of those involved with D.O.G.E. has been widely reported on externally, along with its many different findings internally. Understandably, these findings have stirred up a wide range of opinion and controversy.
Since these findings are being published on a regular basis, those opposed to the decisions being made are debating the pros and cons of them openly and honestly, right?
What will tomorrow's protests
demonstrate about the answer
of participants?
demonstrate about
of participants?
For this Silver Blogger, the answer is clear enough. Rather than debate the merits of these findings in the marketplace of ideas, openly and honestly? They will focus instead on going along with the called for misdirection efforts to demonize the man who has been most associated with uncovering these findings.
Hypocrisy
Of all the myriad ways we can irritate and aggravate each other, is there any one of them more universally despised than hypocrisy?
As one well-known blogger here on Hive, @ericvancewalton, wrote recently:
"I read the stories and many of the people who drive these cars have had to work unbelievably hard to get them. You’d never know it by what you hear in the media but the majority of Tesla owners aren’t wealthy influencers or entitled tech-bros, they’re regular working people."
- Full transparency: In my memory, I thought he had indicated he was a Democrat. I did not find that reference now, but will still tie into it, in my close to this section of my post. He and others can agree or disagree, as they deem best.
Given Tesla's focus on producing high quality products to "accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy," it used to be highly regarded by those who will most likely be protesting "mostly peacefully" tomorrow.
Every day Americans depend upon their jobs at Tesla to support their families, enjoy owning and driving their vehicles, and choose to invest their hard-earned dollars in its future.
What happened? Whatever the response of my readers, I will explain one way of viewing the hypocrisy associated with what has already happened. And what we may all experience more of tomorrow.
It's right! It's wrong! It depends?!
As many of us might hope would be the case, if the D.O.G.E. discoveries were being actively debated on their merits individually, what would one expect of the various views presented?
- Positive. Agreement the finding clearly represented "waste, fraud, and abuse" and should be discontinued?
- Neutral. Agreement the finding is far from ideal, but maybe at least partially survives, after some needed modifications?
- Negative. Agreement the finding could be readily and reasonably explained. And, therefore, whatever was being proposed to reduce or eliminate it should be rejected?
How many debates like this or of a similar in nature are you watching on the "news" or reading about somewhere? Far too often, what are we being subjected to instead?
Source: Creator vocablitz on Pixabay
In my "all or nothing" post, I wrote this:
"In the face of angry pronouncements, personal attacks, and similar what is going on? Certainly not anything related to good intentions and a meaningful exchange. It can be debated, perhaps, whether it is intentional or not, but what is the goal?"
"Intimidation? Shutting you up? Shutting you down?"
In our own memories and those of our parents, was there once a time when very few would argue with the idea that hurting others and damaging or destroying their property was wrong? At that time, how would those very few with a contrary opinion have been characterized?
How about in recent years?
Has it not become far too common to hear, rather than consistently declaring this to be wrong, to hear some version of "It depends!" Based on the exact same outcome being justifiable if it somehow furthers the "right" agenda. And "wrong" if it does not?
Being charitable, as it could be described in even stronger terms, how would anyone argue with this approach being hypocritical?
Does all associated with D.O.G.E. and its efforts represent a revolution? What about our response to it?
Whatever happens tomorrow, it is my fervent hope the days of any tolerance for hurting others and damaging or destroying their property is coming to an end. Those conducting themselves in this way should suffer the full legal consequences. So should those who are knowingly, by design, agitating for this type of conduct and urging them on, in the name of some misguided sense of virtue.
While I am not nor likely to ever be a Tesla owner myself, I am passionately in favor of anyone's freedom of expression. Any attempt to suppress this essential right can only lead away from liberty never toward it. I do not believe there are any valid exceptions.
What are your views on this vital topic?
I welcome the thoughtful opinions of others, as we all wait to see what unfolds tomorrow.
Best wishes, until we meet again,
QT
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The part I don't understand is why fight against DOGE that is fighting against waste fraud and abuse? If someone wants to make the argument that it's not waste fraud and abuse, I'm willing to listen, but they're not saying that - they're making claims that snap benefits will be cut, or social security cut, or welfare cut, or all grants, etc. The reality is that funding for these programs may actually increase as the WASTE and FRAUD and ABUSE is cut within the departments.
Many of these department cuts are the same that many Democrats have criticized in the past. But it's partisan: if a democrat had their own "DOGE" it would be praised. But if their political opponent or party does it, it's like it's the end of the world.
!BBH
Yes, @gratefuleveryday.
That makes at least two of us! We should be able to talk about these important issues in a productive, constructive way, but that sadly seems to be too often discouraged.
Agreed. I personally despise this "all or nothing" approach to anything in the political realm. Even if I might be sympathetic to any one particular argument or another, it is imperative we are able to talk about it without fear.
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your perspective! 🤝
DOGE and Musk talk a lot about fraud, but so far they’ve produced zero evidence of having found any. Fraud is a felony, yet I’ve seen no stories about anyone having been charged with a crime for any actual fraud.
Fraud is indeed a felony, but without the government pressing charges, they are of no consequence. This is why fraud against the government exists - people know they will get away with it.
To qualify as fraud in a legal sense, an activity has to be illegal with evidence of intent, which is a difficult thing to prove. The argument is that unless INTENT is proven in a court of law, nothing can be called "evidence of fraud" by legal definition. Therefore news reporters and fact checkers have it easy, they can say "no evidence" without blushing.
In 2015, social security was audited and found BILLIONS of dollars in "fraud". Using another person's SS number (identity theft) to collect money from the government is by definition FRAUD. And no stories about anyone having been charged with a crime for any actual fraud.
https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/02/18/musk-150-year-old-social-security/
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There’s a decent chance that there will indeed be a revolution, just not the kind that DOGE has in mind. More of a 1789-style off with their heads kind.
“Be careful what you ask for” is always solid advice.
Yes, maybe, @preparedwombat. If so, what do you think would be the driving force behind it?
You are presumably referring to the French Revolution?
Project 2025 and Musk have both talked about gutting or ending Social Security. If they follow through with that, there will be blood in the streets.
I see. Okay, thank you stopping by and sharing your perspective. 🤝
I find it so weird that people are protesting and against exposing waste and fraud in the government. Granted it is someone who is not a government employee but he, and his team, all have the top security clearances necessary for the stuff.
I think this is more division politics as well - where the Soros clan is really adept at stoking the flames of dissent. They are masterfully manipulating people into burning the cars just the way they burned those shit hole cities like Portland and Seattle. Weird how that works, huh?
One of the things I tell everyone is that they should never trust someone like Musk. He’s got his own agenda and it involves him making vast additional sums of money. I appreciate what he’s doing but at the same time I am very suspicious of the long term goal of this. Is it to eliminate all government staff and replace it with AI, and shift towards the one world government the ultra rich talk about so feverishly? Hard to say but it is certainly a concern!
Yes, @cmplxty:
Exactly the point I made in my first post in your community. To the extent D.O.G.E. is successful in tearing down what I referred to in it as the "Unelected 4th Branch of Government," I am fully supportive.
Not supportive? How can it not be openly and honestly questioned why that is the case? What is the argument? Punctuated by this?
threat to our
democracyNo doubt about this:
Whether Soros or someone else or some alliance, I personally hope that is very thoroughly investigated and reported on, as one outcome.
I would insert the word "fully" behind trust. And I would add a key word, as it was at the heart of my first post:
Audit!
If the American peoples cannot get a full and "out in the light" accounting for where all of their hard-earned tax dollars are going, what possible explanation can there be for that? And this question need not and should not be limited to the Americans, although D.O.G.E. seems to be the focal point for now.
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your perspective, @cmplxty. We live in very challenging times. For the sake of us all, we can hope all of these issues are ultimately settled based upon what is good, what is right, what is true.
I'm actually a lifelong Independent who leaned towards the Democratic-side until the last 2-3 years. My eyes were first opened to the corruption of the Democratic party during the last couple of years of the Biden administration. I felt like the party had abandoned all of us moderates. I was rooting for JFK Jr in the primaries and when he joined the Trump administration (along with Gabbard and Musk) I began to feel like my political views aligned more closely with them (not fully). In the end, I don't fully trust either side and will never idolize or fully believe any politician. But I do think this next four years might be an opportunity to ferret out some of the systemic corruption on both sides of the aisle. Politics is a very dirty business of trickery, deception, coercion and it's important for voters to never forget this.
It's absolutely insane what DOGE is uncovering. Just a few days ago DOGE discovered almost a billion dollars of taxpayer funds were spent to build a survey website that should have cost no more than $10k. This is just one of countless examples. Even more shocking is how anyone would be opposed to DOGE's efforts to rebalance the budget and return to solvency so many of the social programs that Americans rely upon. In terms of individual taxpayers I guess I had no idea how many people were brainwashed. The media is telling them that DOGE will take away their Social Security or DOGE is destroying the US education system. A segment of the public will instantly believe this without doing a shred of their own research. It's as though they've already chosen their idealogical hill to die on and refuse to change their opinion. I guess only time will tell how pure DOGE's intentions are. It's easy to spot the those politicians were are on the take and benefiting from the corruption, these are the ones screaming the loudest right now.
The question we should be asking is– What was the over-arching plan of those who were hellbent on burying the US in so much debt we'd never be able to dig ourselves out?
Thank you for this clarification, @ericvancewalton:
I personally like the word independent. Most of what I experience all over the world, as least what I read about, falls into the "All or Nothing!" trap into which we seem to have slowly but relentlessly descended over the course of my life.
As a Silver Blogger, I do not think this can be described as good, or inevitable, or anything else without also acknowledging it cannot possibly end well. While we still have some pretense of freedom to choose, I will always be advocate for a different course.
How can any intellectually honest person dispute this? What is the response of those demonstrating today, if they choose to heed the call? I have no idea how it can be described as arguing any of the findings on their merits. They clearly do not want to discuss it.
Far more they seem to want to crush all dissent as misinformation, disinformation, or similar, without openly and honestly talking about your example and so many others. Since they are indefensible?
That is what I have read about the motivation of those who are part of the D.O.G.E. effort. I hope we see the discussion about all they are uncovering move in this direction, in the not too distant future, as outlined in my post.
The only way I can see this happening is through a lot more effort to build bridges than reinforce walls.
Not being in the US and experiencing this and the potential fallout or results in real time, I can't really comment any political opinions on it, although I'm curious to know if this protest remains peaceful.
Two things that get me thinking with regards all of this is:
#1 How easily people can be turned against the very thing they they believe in while justifying what they're doing to undermine that belief. Environmentalists setting fire (or supporting it) to cars that are a brand that took the lead in EVs for clean energy. The burning of which would also be shoving pollution into the air and wasting valuable earth resources that were mined to produce them.
#2 The fact that this government department is called DOGE, the name of an alt coin (coincidence? Surely not). Wasn't Musk also promoting this alt coin at one point? For some time I thought all this talk of DOGE was about the coin again, not the department, so I had to look it up.
Yes, @minismallholding:
Key word for me? Easily. Why that is the case could be the basis for another series of posts. As you can see by now, trying to figure out what to write about will not be one of my challenges. At least that will be true, for the foreseeable future.
I personally am deeply saddened by how we are continually being manipulated by the well established sources of what once was referred to as news. For our own sake and, more importantly, for the sake of those who are growing up in this world, I can only hope people will figure that out and speak with an unmistakably clear voice they have had enough of it.
I am one of those people. And this post was an exercise in doing my small part to encourage others to join me. Or at least give it some careful and thoughtful consideration.
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your perspective! 🤝