Autocrats destroy government agencies to take their power and authority for themselves without their knowledge and expertise.

We never ask: Why am I spending another minute of my life reading about and yapping about Donald Trump when I know nothing about the 2 million or so federal employees and their possibly lifesaving work that the president is intent on eliminating?

Lewis, Michael. Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service (p. 6). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

We have been told that DOGE’s gutting of federal agencies was about saving money, and learn today, July 4, 2025, that with the signing of the “one big beautiful bill” the US debt will rise by trillions of dollars and that Elon Musk opposed the bill saying that it would add to the debt whatever if anything his cuts while at DOGE saved and much more. So while services provided by the US Federal government will be crippled and the American people and people around the world will suffer, what was the point of DOGE firing all these federal workers?

It was the accumulation of power by the autocrats who wanted to undermine and sabotage the authority that comes from knowledge, skill, and competence of the federal workforce who work for the good of the American people and the world.

So what have we lost in firing people with knowledge, skill, competence, and the values of public service? That’s what Lewis and his colleagues wanted to learn.

What have you noticed already about the loss of governmental services since the federal workers have been terminated? How has your life and the lives of your loved ones and community been affected?
Science and public health will cease to exist as we know it.

It isn’t just providing healthcare that is impacted—the science that leads to these healthcare measures is being destroyed too. OBBBA is slashing funding for basic science research, even more than the cuts that have already taken place in the last 6 months. These institutions are already woefully underfunded, and these cuts will effectively destroy scientific research infrastructure in the US.

The National Institutes of Health is losing 40% of their budget.

The CDC is losing roughly 50% of their budget.

The National Science Foundation is losing $7 billion in funding.

That means over 1,600 research grants, primarily at public universities, will be gone. 75% of early-career science fellowships will be gone. Even more layoffs at public research labs. That’s years of work lost, overnight.

No support for vaccine infrastructure, food safety, epidemic and pandemic preparedness, maternal health. Preventive services research.

The magnitude of damage will be exponentially worse than the NIH indirect cost caps, which I wrote about earlier this year: (From Immunologic by Dr. Andrea Love, accessed on 07/04/25)

How to regain our democracy

How do we stop our slide from democracy to autocracy?

If you would like a return to democratic practices I am wondering what practices you would like to see created, restored, maintained?

Timothy Snyder in his book, On Tyranny mentions 20 practices people can engage in to maintain and further develop our democracy the first of which is "Do not obey in advance." Trump and his minions have vowed "retribution" during their 2024 campaign and we have seen major institutions from media companies to universities to businesses capitulate  hoping to placate the bully. Appeasement doesn't work as history has taught us. So people run scared and hide out, take a low profile, capitulate, obsequiously flatter, etc.

Passive resistance and non violent protests do work as Gandhi and King, Jr. demonstrated. Boycotts and strikes do work. Jesus allowed the Romans to crucify Him and he laughed in their faces saying, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." We're still talking about it 2,000 yrs. later. Who would have thunk it?

David Markham

https://www.markhamsslownews.com/

National Archives and Records Administration important bedrock of democracy.

Over the past nine decades, the National Archives and Records Administration has stretched its scope beyond its founding rationale of protecting its holdings to its current stated mission to “drive openness, cultivate public participation, and strengthen our nation’s democracy through equitable public access to high-value government records.”

Lewis, Michael. Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service (pp. 155-156). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

In 1981 Ronald Reagan in his inaugural address said, “Government is not the solution. Government is the problem.” This statement laying the groundwork for the public attitude toward their government has led to an antipathy of what we hold in common, and an advocacy for privatization which has destroyed our democracy and led to the MAGA movement and the rise of autocracy in the U.S.


The destruction of public institutions and a distrust of the media has led to a concentration of power in the few who are free to sow disinformation and lack of respect for truth because they operate with “alternative facts.” One bastion left for accurate information hopefully is the National Archives and Records Administration weakened when Donald Trump made off with many of the presidential records to Mara Lago in 2021 precipitating a federal case by a special prosecutor which got dropped.

A democracy thrives on accurate information and an autocracy flourishes on disinformation and revised history. Most Americans know little and care little for the NARA, but truth and honesty is the basis of trust and assure a coherent society.

To what extent do you support the mission and vision of the NARA?

Seven terms that help explain the congressional legislation making process.

What percentage of U.S. citizens do you think understand these basic terms and this legislation making process?

What motivates people to vote? "Negative partisanship."

While Democrats flipped 40 Republican held House seats in 2018 ousting 31 Republican incumbents, can Democrats do the same in the Senate in 2020? They can if enough Democrats and Democrat leaning Independents come out to vote.

Who needs to vote for the Democrats to prevail? 18 - 49 year olds.

What will it take to get young Democrats out to vote: the fear of a Republican victory which will destroy democracy and the issues they hold dear.

According to Rachel Bitecofer in her article, "Fear Factor," in the March 2020 issue of the New Republic, the biggest motivator for voting is what she calls "negative partisanship."

And what drives people to vote? For many voters, especially intermittent or newly engaged ones (i.e., people activated by the election of a new president), negative partisanship is a critical factor. And due to the polarizing logic of the present electoral landscape, it’s easy to behold the power of negative partisanship nearly everywhere—in news cycles, social media feeds, campaign debates, and impeachment proceedings. But for ordinary voters, negative partisanship chiefly follows the threat response they register in reaction to the opposition party’s control of government.

For more click here.

America was never a democracy

One of things that is dysfunctional about American politics is the senatorial system which allows 30% of Americans to elect 70 percent of the 100 U.S. senators who control the legislative branch.

Source: The New Republic, March, 2020, page 17