Frick, Frack, and the “DOGE-Y” Scorched Earth Policy

jen window

PHOTO PROMPT © Jen Pendergast

I stood outside their High Tower watching our new leaders Frick and Frack gazing out the window at their vast domain, the one that used to belong to We the People.

“Hey, you,” I yelled. My voice quavered and I knew they could dispose of me like yesterday’s trash.

“Yeah, what is it?” sneered Frick.

“You just nuked Denver. Why?”

“They were wasting federal funds on public transportation,” said Frack.

“But the whole city’s gone, all the people dead.”

“We got rid of the waste, right?”

And everything else, too.”

Frick flipped me off. “Are you some gay socialist radical?”

It’s Wednesday and once again time to participate in Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ 28 February 2025 edition of Friday Fictioneers. The idea is to use the image up top as the inspiration for crafting a poem or short story no more than 100 words long. My word count is exactly 100.

I didn’t intend to write anything political in response to the prompt. But as I cooked breakfast, I started thinking of things that have been bothering me (Yes, this is way-over-the-top, but I’ve got a point to make).

Anyone who knows me is aware that I’m rather “right-leaning” and I can be pretty vocal about it (see social media). However, I’m not fond of extremes either to the left or the right and during the past election cycle, I figured no matter who won, we would all lose in some sense.

Don’t get me wrong. I really do believe there’s massive waste in spending and resources in the Federal government and it’s been ignored for decades or longer. The “fat” really does need to be trimmed.

However, if I went to a barber hairstylist asking for a trim and instead she (usually a she) cut off every last hair, I’d have something to complain about. If I went to a butcher, bought a steak, and asked him (usually a him) to trim the fat and he handed over the steak with all the fat plus eighty percent of the beef gone, I’d have something to complain about.

After talking to people I know and trust who work in the VA, and who tell me that DOGE has, among other things, fired suppliers who provide important medical materials, I’m concerned that Musk and Trump (Frick and Frack) either don’t know or don’t care to learn about the complex systems they are burning to the ground like Sherman did to Atlanta (Civil War history).

So, here we are with my missive for today.

To read other stories based on the prompt, visit inlinkz.

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24 thoughts on “Frick, Frack, and the “DOGE-Y” Scorched Earth Policy”

  1. Hmmm… fired suppliers who provide important supplies, have they? I wonder. Trimmed the fat and 80% of the meat, have they? I suspect that remains to be seen. Actually, DOGE has done nothing more than evaluate and recommend. The actual trimming must be accomplished by others. Since efforts to finally shrink the size and scope of the federal government have been in progress for barely one month, the actual shrinkage can’t have been much. Most of the complaining is fear mongering about threatened cuts, particularly in the case of suppliers who may have padded their bills and cannot justify them now that a spotlight has been focused upon them. No doubt alternative suppliers will replace any such; and they will be more circumspect. Reevaluation can then be accomplished according to the priorities approved by as much as 80% of the electorate. Some formerly federal activities will be replaced by state and local officials in accordance with local priorities. This moves the locus of public services closer to the actual voters who want them. The federal “one size fits all” must be pared to a minimum, along with the commensurate taxes.

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    • I don’t have that much faith in Trump and Musk. The “fired suppliers” comment comes directly from people who work at the VA and who I trust. The 80% figure is metaphorical as I’m sure you know. Like I said, I’m a big fan of cutting government waste, I just want to make sure they don’t throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Oh, there’s this: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doge-wall-of-receipts-more-discrepancies/

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      • Oh, Gee, CBS News claims that the DOGE folks have been overenthusiastic in their crowing about the savings they’ve discovered in only one month of investigations. Surely, there will be corrections in some final accounting of their accomplishments. But what is critically important is that they succeed at all to eliminate whatever can be trimmed. This will, no doubt, throw out a number of “babies with bathwater”, because the federal government is too large and has its fingers in too many pies that it should never have grabbed in the first place. Everything that the feds do that could have been done in the private sector is an infringement of individual freedoms contrary to the fundamental conception the American experiment in liberty. Big government is always a step toward tyranny. The net result is that many public sector jobs will be eliminated, and innocent people will be required to find other work to do. The unanswered question is about American ingenuity to invent new things and start new businesses. Many folks require a bit of a push before they’ll even try. Of course, this will be uncomfortable. It is a major change from a course that virtually every American currently alive

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      • has grown up with since WW2. (Apparently, there’s a limit to the length of replies — and I’ve hit it.) Very well, I’ve said my piece.

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  2. Excellent write, James!

    It’s hard NOT to talk politics lately. He’s/they’ve got the world in a frenzy.

    And I’m thinking they are more akin to you going to the barber and they cutting off your head rather than all your hair!

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