Further comments on "efficiency", and surface rhetoric...
The Project 2025 use of the word "efficiently", is interesting.
But without fleshing out what the goals of the larger policy is, it is impossible
to address what this word "efficiency" means. (Hitler was very "efficient", in his
extermination camps. The Mafia has been very "efficient", in pillaging
the productivity of good American citizens.)
Taking the surface language -- the rhetoric, the slogans -- of Donald Trump,
or any other politician of either party, is not insightful. (We should be very careful,
to say this clearly.) Everyone uses surface language in speeches and campaigns,
and this surface language does not REALLY (often) lay out the policies that
the political candidate will carry out, IF they get elected into office. Project 2025
is VERY important, because it is over 140 friends and former advisors of Donald Trump,
making it very clear in intentions and goals, what they think that MAGA Trump policies
will be, given the surface rhetoric that Trump uses when campaigning.
Also, when Christians discuss "efficiency" in Project 2025, we should carefully
note that EFFICIENCY CANNOT BE DEFINED, APART FROM A VALUE SYSTEM,
AND INTENDED GOALS of the people using the word "efficiency."
The checks and balances that the foundational documents of Aemrica build
into the American government, build many INEFFICIENCIES into the way that
power is distributed into the 3 branches of the government. That is, the President
cannot do whatever he wished, without regard to the fair rule of law in America, and
the Judiciary that interprets that law, and carries out legal trials. From purely the
President's pint of view, this is very INEFFICIENT. The president CANNOT simply
carry out his own wishes, with respect to his policies.
In the same way, the Judiciary (especially the Supreme Court) must decide
questions of Consitutionality, with regard to the meaning of the Consitutions,
and founding documents of America. The courts CANNOT make decisions,
that discard this foundation of American documents, and the fair rule of law
that exists in established law in America. In one sense, this is a very constrained,
INEFFICIENT system, from the standpoint of members of the Judiciary.
The Legislative branch of government, the Congress. MUST follow strict rules
when proposing new laws, or modifying existing laws. The House and the Senate
CANNOT discard the representative power (as defined in how the Senate and
Congress shall carry out their work) of the States, and the People, when
working on writing laws. In one sense this is very INEFFICIENT, but this
Consitutional structure of PROCESS in writing laws, enforces that the will
of the People to elect representatives, is central to the Process. ALL the states
are represented equally in the Senate. ALL the population of citizens is represented
proportionally in the House. In one sense, THIS IS VERY INEFFICIENT. That is,
because the Process of making law in America, has the representative force
of the states and the People, deeply embedded in the Process.
... For NONE of the 3 branches of the government, is the Constitutional
Process "efficient". The Founding Fathers did not want the Process, to
be "efficient", in some quirky or undefined meaning of the term.
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For a multi-billionaire, whose main concern is how to make more money,
and wants to minimize environmental constraints on business, and wants to
minimize human rights constraints on business, and wants to minimize
considerations of the health and well being of citizens' lives (with regard
to business decisions), it probably would appear that the Office of the
President of the United States, IS NOT AN EFFICIENT DEFINITION OF A
PRESIDENT OF A CORPORATION. Of course, the office of the President
is NOT EFFICIENT, if the office is expected to be an "efficient" definition
of a leader of a trillion dollar corporation. THIS IS BECAUSE THE OFFICE
OF THE PRESIDENT, IS NOT A DEFINITION OF A LEADER OF A TRILLION DOLLAR
CORPORATION. That is not the purpose of the President, as the founding
fathers of America, viewed the office.
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We see that the complete LACK OF COOPERATION that the MAGA Republicans
(especially the Tea Party group) have taken, as policy, when operating in the
House and Senate, tends to kill the productivity of the Congress. This is a
self-imposed inefficiency, and this inefficiency is imposed by the leader of
the Republican Party, Donald Trump, who (it seems) tends to view himself
as a God-given potentate, who holds all-knowledge and all-wisdom about
what the Congress should do. And, who has that exalted view of himself,
along with holding many conspiracy theories that are not supported by
objective data. It makes sense that Donald Trump would find the Constitutional
Process in America, to be very "inefficient".
But, it is insightful for Christians to recognize that the checks and balances
built into the American government, were carefully built in, in order to support the
freedoms of American citizens, and "freedom" in this sense, DOES NOT MEAN
WHATEVER AN INDIVIDUAL PERSON, OR GROUP, WANTS TO DO.
For individuals who want to become President, and then carry out whatever
policies they wish, the serious constraints in the founding documents of
America, and their ideals, will seem like a La Brea tar pit of inefficiency.
This is the way in which American democrative freedoms are defined, and how
they are protected by the 3 branches of the American government. This
Consitutional Process, IS VERY EFFICIENT, with regard to the democratic
freedoms that it was defined to protect. But if the elected President does
not value these historic democratic ideals, then this system of government
will seem hopelessly "inefficient" with regard to the unorthodox, undemocratic
wishes of the President.
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J. Edgar Hoover, the leading shaper of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
was a bigotted man. He believed, for example, that the white race was superior
to other "races". And, that non-whites would never have the intelligence to
piece together what we would call today, "organized crime syndicates".
For this reason, Hoover believed the conspiracy theory that there was no
Italian Mafia in America (because no Italians could be smart enough to create
an organized crime syndicate...). He ENFORCED this personal bigotry on the
FBI, and for a long time, forbidding it from gathering intelligence on the Mafia, and
then prosecuting the large Italian crime families. This is an example of how
personal bigotries, and conspiracy theories, can cripple parts of the American
government.
Christians need to consider what "efficiency" means, in the context of
American ideals of democracy and freedom. Christians need to realize
where Trump is coming from, when he calls for reform of the American
government for the purpose of "efficiency".
And what Trump means, and what over 140 of his friends and former advisors
mean, in Project 2025, is a goal that is incompatible with the ideals of the
founding American documents, and the fair rule of law that America has.
America has a government of checks and balances, in order to PROTECT
very specific ideals and rights. And for unscrupulous managers who wish
to become elected President of America, these checks and balances are
very inefficient, given their wish to become a tyrant at the head of a
multi-trillion dollar corporation.
This is what the discussion of "efficiency" should include, when we consider
Trump's surface language, and the language that appears in Project 2025.
