Trump's Plan to Drain the Swamp

by Mark Patricks, 11/20/16

Now that Donald Trump has been elected president, one of his clearest mandates is to "drain the swamp" that is Washington, D.C. A person who's naive or new to the process of government might ask — what is this swamp? Where exactly is it? And how can it be drained?

An open secret of our government is that for decades and even generations, Washington has been a cesspool of fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayers' money that simply is orders of magnitude larger than the average citizen can comprehend.

The Pentagon alone has admitted that it has no idea where approximately $8.5 trillion has gone in the last 20 years, and that is but one of the government's many apparatuses. There are many, many bureaus, offices, departments, divisions, boards, committees, commissions and other structures of the government which siphon the taxpayer's dollar as a Hoover machine does dirt from your carpet.

And unlike the job of cleaning your living room, the scope of this fraud, waste and abuse is nearly unlimited. It is so vast that even experienced auditors and forensic accounting experts in many cases have deemed the cleanup of this bureaucratic swamp an all but impossible task.

Making things worse than simply a job of financial housecleaning are the fact that individuals known as lobbyists daily persuade lawmakers in Congress to increase the size and scale of this waste and to direct its flows in new and novel directions; even the most diligent of cost controllers are not able to staunch the flow of the almighty dollar to the pockets of the self-interested.

In many cases, these lobbyists are unrivaled experts in their tasks because they either hail directly from the halls of Congress itself or from the various staffs of its members. This "revolving door" of government workers who leave their jobs to enter the private sector to "loosen the vault doors" for whichever corporation or billionaire that wants to pay their salary is a central reason why it's so difficult to put a crimp in the flow of the wasted largess.

Whether it's pallets of literal cash being flown on unmarked cargo planes across the world to terrorist-sponsoring regimes or $5 billion given to a few IT consultants to create a nonfunctional website for a healthcare program that can't deliver on its promises, the mind reels at the extent of the economic squander.

And if you thought your democratically chosen representatives — the Congressional lawmakers who are so determined to give these lobbyists everything they want and more — are interested in sparing or conserving your hard-earned tax dollars in any way, shape or form — think again.

This is likely why the average American citizen's approval rating of the parliamentary branch of government has gone into the toilet; it's now not far from its historical low of 9 percent.

Fortunately Donald Trump is all too aware of these problems — not just as a businessman, but as a U.S. citizen and taxpayer himself who has in the past paid fairly hefty amounts into the government's coffers (despite Democratic protestations to the contrary).

As the leader of a large organization that deals with the development of some of the world's biggest buildings, Trump knows quite well how costs can balloon, mushroom and increase in just about every way you can think of.

Trump is actually a celebrated cost-cutter and a fiscal tightwad who spent just one-half of the money on his presidential campaign that his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton spent on hers — and we all know who got their money's worth.

Trump has promised to "drain the swamp" of Washington in at least seven ways:

1. Trump wants to enact a Constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress. This will put an end to waste "gatekeepers" who have set, poured and enlarged pools of quicksand for tax dollars that funnel money to their personal and political priorities and interests. The faster Congress turns over, the less these gatekeepers can become entrenched over time.

2. Trump wants to implement a hiring freeze for all federal departments and reduce the number of employees on the federal payroll through attrition. This is critical because there are already far too many people in government doing far too many jobs.

To use a metaphor, the number of cooks in the government kitchen is practically greater than the number of diners in the attached restaurant. It's long past time to reduce the staff and cut the number of menu choices.

3. Trump insists that for every federal regulation created, two current regulations must be excised from the books. One of the reasons why the government spends so much money is because there are 400-page documents that detail how often Air Force One needs to have its interior cleaned, for example. Much of these regulations can be cut enormously with no detrimental side effects.

4. Trump wants to institute a five-year ban on Congressional and White House officials becoming lobbyists after their service in government. This will go a long way toward eliminating the insidious "revolving door" that allows lobbyists to go straight to the sources of their corrupt funds. While it won't completely remedy the problem, it will put a dent in this perennial issue that has been the bane of many citizens' advocacy groups.

5. Taking the step above a bit further, Trump wants to implement a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of foreign governments. This one should be a no-brainer. After all, whose interest should the White House be looking out for — yours or a foreign dictator's?

It cannot be overstated that Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman's brother was being paid $140,000 per month by Saudi Arabia to do lobbying work. If Hillary Clinton had become president, what government role might these brothers have been given?

6. Trump wants to put a total ban on foreign lobbyists raising funds for American elections. Like the action item above, this also should be a no-brainer as the leader of the United States should be working for its citizens, not for the citizens of an overseas government. Hillary Clinton's campaign took money from Saudi Arabia during this election. What would Saudi Arabia have gotten in return if she had won? The mind can only wonder at the implications.

7. Finally, Trump wants to cancel billions in payments to the UN's climate change programs, instead using the money to repair the U.S.'s water and environmental infrastructure. We've all heard about the problems with Flint, Michigan's water supply. Why are we sending money overseas to fix problems that may or may not be imaginary when we have longstanding, demanding issues here at home that need to be addressed? It's Trump's intention to fix these issues first and foremost.

These seven steps won't be enough to completely eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse that occurs daily in our government. But they're a solid first step toward tackling one of the biggest problems (and some say THE biggest problem) Washington faces.

Regards, Mark Patricks, League of Power