The purpose of government is to “maintain order and stability, ensuring citizens can live safely and productively, while also protecting individual rights and freedoms within a framework of law and justice.” (AI Overview) Our agencies were created to serve us. The personnel staffing them are experts in their fields. There are entities doing everything from predicting the weather to warning us about devastating diseases and finding cures and/or vaccines. They take care of the elderly and children, help the disabled and veterans, protect us from attacks from foreign governments and native terrorists, and much more. Essentially these agencies do things we cannot do for ourselves.

A direct democracy is one in which “the people vote directly against or in favor of decisions, policies, laws, etc.” (Merriam-Webster.com) There is no president or legislature. Our founding fathers gave us a republic, “a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch.”(Oxford Dictionary) As our country has grown, so has our government. Many feel it has gotten too big and others feel there is still much that could be added. Can it be better? No doubt. But that calls for precise measures.

Grover Norquist once said, “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” (Interview on NPR’s Morning Edition, May 25, 2001)Apparently Donald Trump is trying to accomplish that task.

On inauguration day, Trump began eliminating federal programs and firing personnel. He seems to be following the Project 2025 handbook which the Heritage Foundation wrote detailing how to shrink the government. It includes such things as firing huge numbers of workers who have gained a wealth of knowledge and experience in their positions and eliminating whole departments like USAID, the Dept. of Education, etc. Project 2025 is the instruction manual on how to give the president total authority, elevating the office of President higher than Congress or the Supreme Court and eliminating the system of checks and balances that heretofore kept our government from becoming a dictatorship.

Trump unleashedthe “Department Of Government Efficiency” under the leadership of Elon Musk, his top campaign donor. DOGE is not an official entity and has no legitimate authority. There is no documentation on what its duties are or who staffs it. It operates at the whim of Trump (or Musk, who is not an elected or confirmed official). DOGE has stormed into offices and evacuated staff. They have accessed computer data that was supposed to be private. ABC News reported, “Musk is bringing the same chaos and confusion he brought to Twitter to the federal government. After buying Twitter, Musk swiftly fired top executives [and] laid off thousands of employees…” (Feb. 23, 2025)

Musk declared his attack on the government as a “revolution”. He pledged to eliminate one third of the nation’s budget. It’s hard to see how that can be done without cutting into the quick. This is made all the more challenging since DOGE has already cost the U.S. $500 billion – 10% of all IRS revenue from last year.

Trump, however, isn’t stopping at decimating government agencies. Using executive orders, he is trying to prevent law firms from representing clients that he has a problem with. That would include anyone who has spoken out against him or immigrants or any other person or group that he doesn’t like. He has specifically targeted firms connected with Robert Mueller.

In the meantime, Congress with its slim Republican majorityhas pretty much ceded its powers to Trump. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is openly floating the idea of eliminating federal courts.

In a last ditch effort of prevent complete oblivion,courts are handing down decision after decision against Trump. But he just sticks his fingers in his ears and says, “I can’t hear you.” And what can they do? They have no army to enforce their decisions.

So once the government has been shrunken to the size where it can be drowned in the bath tub, is the next step to actually drown it?

Verna Caruso is a native of Muncy, who now resides in Williamsport.  She is a former staff member at Inc. magazine and former Chair of the Lycoming County Democratic Committee.