A retired attorney I know (who is generally, but not always, a Trump enthusiast) writes what he calls a "blog," though it is not published online, and is thus, actually, a "private" communication, available only to those who have been placed on the author's email distribution list. This "blog" presents itself, more or less daily, in a recipient's email inbox. Political topics are generally what is discussed.
Back in February, I got one of these blog emails with the following title:
OUR DEEPLY ENTRENCHED, BIASED BUREAUCRACY
Here is how this email blog posting started out:
Now that Donald Trump is back in office, there is hope that he can at last break up the “Deep State” that controls so much about our daily lives. Until now, Presidents have come and gone – even Trump in his first term – but the permanent federal bureaucracy remained the same. It has a distinct partisan tilt. It continues to be run by Democrats, even when voters elect Republicans. And that – not the words and deeds of Mr. Trump, is what makes a sham of democracy.Because the bias in the federal civilian workforce – which consists of more than 2 million employees – favors their side, the likes of Democrat Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Biden were never going to fix it. Only Donald Trump in his second term came prepared to confront the problem. And earlier, when the parties were less ideologically polarized and there were still quite a few conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans, it wasn’t as obvious as today that the bureaucracy’s partisan slant meant a workforce opposed to the duly elected president when he’s not a Democrat. And so it was that from President Reagan onward any Republican who would try to get the bureaucracy to carry out a conservative agenda would face a revolt from inside. That is where we stand today (emphasis added).
As is revealed by the statements reproduced above, this commentator correctly understands that the so-called "Deep State" is just another (and pejorative) name for "the federal bureaucracy." He claims that the federal bureaucracy is, somehow, deeply "partisan," favoring the "Democrats" over the "Republicans," but no evidence whatsoever is provided that would demonstrate that this is true. It may well be that "Republicans" feel more estranged from our governmental bureaucracy than the "Democrats" do because "Republicans" may not, actually, support much of what the government bureaucracy is doing, even though the government bureaucracy is doing what it has been told to do by a majority of both houses of Congress, with the President in agreement, at least at the time that the governmental programs were established.
We, the American people, have wanted our government to do various things (and our elected representatives in Congress have, generally, tried actually to do them). However, when we want "the government" do do something, that means that we need to have actual people do what we have said we want. The "federal bureaucracy" is not some hidden or "Deep State" apparatus. It is a bunch of people who operate according to regulations adopted through a public process, and who do things originally outlined by the Congress, in legislation, and who are paid to do their assignments according to the federal budget, which is reviewed by Congress and the President annually.
There is nothing either subversive or hidden in these things that we have told our government to do. The so-called "Deep State" is the set of bureaucratic institutions that does the things that the American people have indicated they want to have done (and have felt that using our government to accomplish the tasks was the best way to do them). We have, for instance, wanted to provide humanitarian aid throughout the world. We have also wanted the government to collect taxes from both businesses and individuals, so rhat the money could be expended on programs and activities that we have determined are worthwhile. We have also wanted to protect our ocean environment - and air and water quality, etc.
The American people, in fact, have wanted to do a LOT of things, and as time has passed, many people have forgotten what we have asked the government to do, and express legitimate amazement when they learn about the assignments, and how they are being carried out. Most of us have definitely not kept up with how the governmental bureaucracies, who are supposed to be operating on our behalf, are actually carrying out their assignments.
So, when we start talking about the "Deep State," what we are really talking about, at root, is the fact that very few of us - in this supposedly "self-governing" nation of ours - have actually spent any time trying to get engaged, themselves, in the government that represents us, that is spending our money, and that is carrying out assignments that the "bureaucracy" has every reason to believe is something that the American people want them to do.
My email "blogger" friend calls this situation "a sham of democracy," but there is no "sham" involved. The Congress and the President can modify, eliminate, or expand various programs that the Congress has assigned to the federal bureaucracy. If the majority of Congress and the President don't want this nation to provide aid to starving children, they can change the laws to change what our federal employees do. If there are too many federal employees, in their opinion, they can cut back agencies and programs - or even eliminate them. "Democracy,"in fact, is exactly how that is supposed to be done.
The "sham of democracy" is what has actually been happening, with an unelected person - supposedly the wealthiest person in the world - taking unilateral action to fire people working on programs that were democratically established, and that have been funded through democratic procedures.
Don't be fooled by claims that there is some hidden, "Deep State" misusing your tax dollars, and carrying out nefarious and secret programs. That is a fiction, intended to provide an excuse for what is really happening. What is really happening is the totally undemocratic undoing of programs and agencies that were established by democratically-elected Congresses, and that have been, and are, supervised by ongoing budget review, and that are totally open and subject to Conressional and Presidential direction.
Talking about the "Deep State" is a diversion, intended to prevent us from noticing that genuine democracy is being stolen from us, by persons operating under the authority of someone who claims that "I, alone, can fix it."
I, alone... ? Does that sound like "Democracy" to you? Sham democracy, for sure!
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