President Trump and one of his chief butt kickers, Elon Musk, have roared to a start with the vital DOGE -- Department of Government Efficiency. Not surprisingly, they have quickly identified billions in wasteful spending.

I might quibble with the idea this spending is “wasteful,” as from the left’s perspective it all has a very specific goal -- a jobs program for those who will vote and donate 90+% for the party of government, the Democrats. 

Their real goal of forever expanding government must never be forgotten. This is why Democrats are having a collective breakdown over any cuts in spending. It’s a machine designed to ensure them forever power.

As for DOGE, it is a grand beginning, but it is only the beginning, for as management guru Peter Drucker once noted, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

Tie this with a quote from Milton Friedman, “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results,” and you have the foundation for DOAR.

Pretty much any area; local, state, or federal, is ripe for DOAR analysis but since Friedman was especially interested in K-12 education let’s start there with some simple DOAR observations.

Years ago, we were told technology was going to revolutionize K-12 education. Now almost every child across the land has a Chromebook. Even in math class, paper and pencil became verboten. I challenge any of you to attempt to do even simple math without them. And you already know how to do simple math. What if you’re just learning?

My wife and her generation’s math skills were terribly damaged by another earlier dubious experiment called “new math.”

It would seem any plan like this -- basically experimenting on other people’s children -- would include a plan to review actual results. How did this technology impact learning and knowledge? Short answer, in most cases it has been a disaster with test scores showing no improvement and often regression. For this, states have spent billions? I want my property taxes back.

Recently, there was a tremendous push to change the start times for high schools as those poor fragile creatures were being asked to get up far too early in the morning. This effort was extremely well funded and made incredible predictions. If true, it is amazing the human species was able to survive this long.

The simple act of letting the little dears in high school sleep later -- assuming, of course they would use the extra time for sleep -- would:

• Significantly improve academic performance across the board
• Lead to better concentration and focus
• Improved ability to focus and retain information in class
• Reduced daytime sleepiness
• Better mood and mental health. Improved emotional well-being, reduced stress, lower anxiety
• Lower risk of car accidents
• Improved attendance with decreased tardiness and absences
• Better student behavior and reduced disciplinary issues. Reduced bullying and fighting
• Reduced alcohol, drug, and tobacco use
• Reduced suicide attempts
• Reduced athletic injuries
• Better physical health, even reducing obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes!

This required changes in start times for elementary and middle schools and was -- and is -- terribly disruptive to sports and other after-school activities. But for these changes -- almost a miracle elixir -- it was deemed necessary across the land.

Although it is anecdotal, I know quite a few middle and high school teachers and to the person they will tell you it was -- and is -- a disaster. None of these things happened. In fact, in the high school’s behavior only got worse.

So where is the follow-up testing to verify these almost incredible promises? There is none and there is no unbiased evidence that any of these things happened in the real world. Yes, they perhaps could happen, but did they?  “Who cares?! Our intentions were good” seems to always be the reply.

Decades ago, the schools tried to address sex education and what followed was an explosion of promiscuity, pregnancy, disease, and porn at younger and younger ages. Did they ever really investigate if what they were doing was actually accomplishing the stated goal?

They “addressed” drug education and drug usage exploded. Kids who went through the D.A.R.E.  program were actually more likely to use drugs. 

Recently they did the same with bullying with the same opposite results. Now they are going to “help” those students who might be experiencing issues regarding their sexuality. Again, with life-destroying results. As the band Pink Floyd sang, “hey teacher, leave them kids alone.”

Ignoring actual results while experimenting on other people’s children like this is an obscenity. Yet there is not an area of government that is innocent of this insanity. 

Yes, we need DOGE to save the country from mathematically certain doom if the national debt is not addressed but we also need to ensure actual results -- not talk, not dreams, not desires, but results -- are what drives our collective efforts in all public policy.

As noted by Aldous Huxley, “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”

Continuing our childish, willful disregard for actual results will sooner or later be our doom.  Long live DOAR!

John Conlin is an expert in organizational design and change. He also holds a BS in Earth Sciences and an MBA and is the founder and President of E.I.C. Enterprises. He has been published in American Greatness, The Federalist, The Daily Caller, American Thinker, Houston Chronicle, Denver Post, and Public Square Magazine among others.

Image: DOGE