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# Is DOGE a Problem For Its Findings? Who’s Leading It? Should CA Have DOGE?
February 20 2025
Written by Ken Alpern.
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ALPERN AT LARGE - Is it possible that one can be annoyed by, or even despise, President Trump or “Shadow President” Musk…yet still be supportive of their DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) efforts?
USAID, the military, education, transportation, housing, immigration, homeland security, foreign policy, and everything else—DOGE is finding billions and billions of concerning expenses that may keep a small army of left-leaning bureaucrats employed but leaving us taxed and fleeced for federal programs and operations most taxpayers do NOT like.
The “Obama Bros” (Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor) were loyal to the Obama Administration during former President Obama’s Administration, but even admit today that [DOGE is finding out](https://www.aol.com/obama-bros-doge-stuff-ve-141925014.html) what THEY should have found out.
…and bemoan the roadblocks THEY had to endure when THEY tried to do what DOGE is doing.
And the screaming about Musk and DOGE…is the opposition based on the Musk/DOGE current operational process or what it has uncovered (by the way, the military and other conservative/right-wing priorities will not be spared from the DOGE auditing process)?
Is it the people being fired, and government services being potentially lessened, or is it folks losing their gravy train…and the idea of a “safe” and “permanent/secure” job in the federal government being lost…that makes all the protests occur.
Two quick questions:
1. Do the anti-DOGE protests have a majority groundswell behind them?
2. Does California need its own DOGE?
My guess based on current observations is that the angry (but relatively small!) protests are from (to paraphrase Shakespeare’s Hamlet) those “who doth protest too much, methinks.”
As for a California DOGE”
1. Do California taxpayers support spending $6-10 billion a year of the healthcare of illegal immigrants?
2. Do California taxpayers support how the tens of billions of dollars a year are being spent on homeless programs (not the need to spend on that crisis, but HOW the money is being spent)?
3. Do California taxpayers support how the state’s transportation funding is being spent (say, the CA High Speed Rail program vs. L.A. or S.F. subways), and are our roads in good repair?
4. Do California taxpayers support how our water policies, and our lack of dams and reservoirs and preservation of groundwater levels, are being addressed in our budgeting process?
5. Do California taxpayers support how our energy utility bills are sky-high with respect to cost-effective spending and policies
6. Do California taxpayers support how their education dollars are being spent?
7. Do California taxpayers support how well safety/security dollars in our cities, counties, and state are being spent?
We now hear that President Trump and his auditor sidekick Elon Musk are floating around a $5000 rebate for American households based on the cost savings they’re finding and proposing…
…how would Californians respond to a new governor that had his/her own DOGE?
Would the majority oppose it…or just those who’ve benefited at the expense of the majority of us for years and even decades?
*(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father. He was active for 20 years on the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) as a Board Member focused on Planning and Transportation, and helped lead the grassroots efforts of the Expo Line as well as connecting LAX to MetroRail. His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth, and can be reached at . The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)*
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