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Elon Musk visited the Pentagon on Friday to receive a briefing on a possible war plan against China. The Trump Administration has pushed back claims by the press that Musk was briefed about the plans. The Administration has said that Mr. Musk was not present at the meeting. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has even posted on X, saying: “We look forward to welcoming @elonmusk to the Pentagon tomorrow. But the fake news delivers again — this is NOT a meeting about 'top secret China war plans.' It's an informal meeting about innovation, efficiencies & smarter production. Gonna be great!” However, many Americans and officials question the amount of political power Musk receives to access these government agencies and documents.
We all agree that government should be accountable to the American people. Even transparent with the facts that lie within our government. The Trump Administration has created the Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE) to eliminate government spending and bring more accountability for our nation. While this at first may seem positive for our nation to go in the right direction, that is far from the truth of what DOGE has been doing. I would argue that the powers that DOGE is using are going against what our Founding Fathers intended for our government to be, checks and balances. Our Founding Fathers believed that the power of the federal government should be separated and equal for each branch. This includes the Legislature (making laws), Executive (enforcing laws), and Judicial branches (interpreting laws). The Founding Fathers believed that the powers should be separated to prevent one branch from taking over the other branches of government. For example, an absolute monarch would have complete control over the government, his decisions are law based on his judgment. Another example would be an oligarchy which is a small group of individuals that control the government, an example of this can be found in nations like Russia (in recent years, more power has been centralized to the presidency), Burma/Myanmar, China, Saudi Arabia, etc. While our nation is not ruled by an oligarchy or monarchy, it is still a dangerous possibility now with corporations like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg getting more involved in the federal government.
Alex Brandon, AP PHOTO
DOGE has gone against this principle by empowering itself to target agencies like USAID and access to American infrastructure and data of every American. For example, they have access to systems within the Treasury Department, Federal Aviation Administration technology, Medicare and Medicaid, FEMA, and also possess the ability to cancel DEI programs. Considering that Elon Musk is a businessman himself and has an interest in Tesla and Space X, it is questionable whether the actions that his agency is doing are for the interest of his own or the nation. But DOGE has claimed to have cut $55 billion in wasteful spending for our nation. However, that claim is a much lower number than $55 billion, the actual number is that of $16 billion.
Let us look at DOGE cutting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB was first created after the 2008 Great Recession to regulate businesses and to protect consumers from unfair practices from corporate companies that would break the laws. However, it was put to a halt by DOGE. If the CFPB were to stop all functions to help everyday Americans, it could ultimately benefit the interests of Elon Musk, with X planning to have its own mobile paying system called “X Money Account” which would be regulated by CFPB under “expanded oversight.”
This is not an argument about government accountability. I do believe that DOGE could have been a positive step to make government more accountable. After all, the government should be transparent with the American people. I am, however, arguing that the agency and the head of this department are using its powers, granted by the Executive branch, to abuse it for the benefit of the corporate interest. Your jobs, your private information, and access to government technology are nothing more than for the betterment of their corporation. Giving too much power to the head of a mega-corporation could bring us back to an era in which the robber barons had complete influence over your businesses and government policy. Let us not repeat history.
Have an opposing viewpoint to this opinion? Let us know. All views are welcome. Send your thoughts to our Editorial Staff – Editor Thomas Szot tszot@student.dean.edu or Dean Daily Faculty Advisor, Professor John Rooke jrooke@dean.edu
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