T S Elliot wrote The Hollow Man 100 years ago, in 1925. It encapsulates so much of what’s wrong with us:

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.

In losing our core American ethos, our end appears much closer than our commencement. It’s not preordained, though. We still have a chance to reverse our slide through the application of will sufficient to overcome both bureaucratic inertia and the Deep State’s tendency to fight change that threatens its existence. Perhaps Trump’s most challenging task will be to reverse the damage done by 65 years of government unionization.

The unionization of the government workforce has led to inefficiencies, divided loyalties, and complicated management processes. Most succinctly, unionization moved “We The People” into third place behind the unions and their government overlords. When John F. Kennedy unionized the federal workforce, the government’s bad traits became protected activities. Like tenured school teachers and professors, federal government employees became empowered to wag their superior finger in the face of those who pay their exorbitant salaries and benefits without fear or consequence.

Image: American Federation of Government Employees strike. AFGE. CC BY 2.0.

Our government consists of ordinary people with the same vices, proclivities, and drivers that most have. Many who work in government like the collegial vibe, security, and remuneration of government work, which demands less on average and rewards more on average than the private sector. These factors make the government an ideal employer, engendering strong loyalty in the employees. That same loyalty means that government workers, rather than feeling honor-bound toward the taxpayers who fund their work, frequently develop an “us against them” attitude.

With Trump’s second term, however, federal workers, perhaps for the first time, are facing the possibility of being RIFED (Reduction in Force), which scares them. Good!

President Kennedy unionized the federal workforce through Executive Order 10988. Its continued existence is not cast in stone. President Ronald Reagan was responsible for dissolving the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) in 1981 following a devastating strike that threatened to cause incalculable harm to the American economy.

I could make the same argument today that the federal bureaucracy has run amok and is also causing incalculable harm to America. Reining it in would provide better service to our citizens while saving us tens of billions of dollars and de-politicizing the bureaucracy. That political aspect is significant, for federal employees made approximately 84% of their donations to Democrat party candidates in the 2024 election cycle.

If I were President Trump, I’d take my fellow Republican senators into a room, lock the doors, and remind them that only once in the last 30 years have the Republicans possessed the opportunity they hold at this moment. For those who have forgotten, in 1934, the most focused, disciplined leader in the Republican party in the last generation was Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, my Representative in Cobb County.

Newt’s “Contract with America“ was a brilliant masterstroke of marketing that resonated with the American people and bound Republicans to a shared vision, one that superseded a lot of the typical personal boosterism politicians employ to stand out from the crowd. We need that shared vision once again. That kind of vision is a powerful force—one powerful enough, perhaps, to end the government union hold over America.

Let’s grasp this rare opportunity. It’s a chance to return America to its constitutional, small-government roots, made possible in part through the virtues of a non-partisan, responsive bureaucracy. Without the yoke of government around their necks, Americans fall in love all over again with what our Founders intended: freedom with responsibility, family, love of country, God-centered, and that shining beacon of light and hope that the entire world can aspire to. That’s a legacy Trump and all our fellow countrymen should be proud of.

God bless America.

Author, Businessman, Thinker, and Strategist. Read more about Allan, his background, and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at www.1plus1equals2.com