One thing I’ve been thinking a lot about while interviewing people for DOGE IS FOUR LETTERS is the idea of efficiency. What do we mean by efficiency? More specifically, what does an efficient government look like? What does that mean to the average American? Shorter wait times for passport processing? No hold times when calling the Social Security Administration? Being able to book an appointment with a doctor at the VA with short notice?
What I’m certain of, and something which I think isn’t given enough consideration by our national media, is that Elon Musk has a definition of efficiency that isn’t remotely similar to that of the median American.
Musk’s dealings with the federal government are unlike that of 99.9% of the American population. Musk has never and will never need to book a doctor’s appointment with the VA. I’m not sure Musk has needed to book a doctor’s appointment at all in more than a decade; I assume he has on-call, private physicians who attend to him. Elon Musk does not sit on the phone and listen to hold music. Elon Musk does not have to visit a passport office. Elon Musk will never need Social Security. Elon Musk does not report for jury duty.
Musk seems to view the government through the same zero-sum lens that he views business, or playing video games, or even fatherhood. Everything that does not produce obvious and immediate value produces no value whatsoever. In Musk’s world, excess capacity is value that should be extracted and removed from the organization. Anything which does not produce measurable revenue should not exist. That his companies are not managed in this way themselves is irrelevant; Elon Musk answers to no one but himself, and he gives himself ample permission to lie.
But this isn’t the purpose of government, and it’s not how government works. It’s never been how government works. These principles cannot be applied to government, because, in government, what creates efficiency for the average American is capacity, and you need a lot of excess capacity in order to create meaningful improvements in American perceptions of government efficiency. You won’t and can’t create that capacity by slashing the workforce; your passport application can’t (or shouldn’t) be automatically approved by default, it must be reviewed by an actual person who understands what they’re looking at. You can’t use AI to conduct a doctor’s examination of a patient at the VA. Grok can’t make decisions about what the political ramifications of food insecurity in Central Africa will be because Grok does not know what political ramifications or food insecurity or Central Africa are.
What the average American taxpayer wants out of an efficient government is an easier, faster way to request the services they are entitled to, and a friendlier and more consistent way to comply with the laws and regulations that they are subject to. Nothing Musk has done or intends to do will deliver this, because Musk’s definition of efficiency in government has nothing to do with government, in the same way that Musk has nothing in common with the average American.
They are at, and will forever remain at, crossed purposes.
GOLIKEHELLMACHINE 