Yuval Levin

Some of them maybe have been there before. And they're coming in as, I don't know what, a tenth, a fifth of their workforce is going through a long-term resignation process. And those people have not been chosen on the basis of any sense of which jobs are most important, which people are doing the best work. What government functions are most essential? What actually has to be done by law?

Some of them maybe have been there before. And they're coming in as, I don't know what, a tenth, a fifth of their workforce is going through a long-term resignation process. And those people have not been chosen on the basis of any sense of which jobs are most important, which people are doing the best work. What government functions are most essential? What actually has to be done by law?

None of that. This is all happening on the basis of who finds it attractive to not work until September while getting paid and then take another job. That means they're going to come in with chaos. And the way they're approaching it is rooted, I think, in a Silicon Valley argument that says –

None of that. This is all happening on the basis of who finds it attractive to not work until September while getting paid and then take another job. That means they're going to come in with chaos. And the way they're approaching it is rooted, I think, in a Silicon Valley argument that says –

Creative destruction is how you learn, break things, and then see how they fall, and you can build something new. And the civil service just isn't going to work that way. That's not really how this system can learn.

Creative destruction is how you learn, break things, and then see how they fall, and you can build something new. And the civil service just isn't going to work that way. That's not really how this system can learn.

Yeah. There's 3 million people who work for the federal government. And I think a lot of people's sense of who the kind of modal federal employee is, is probably off. I mean, I would say now people probably think it's somebody who lives in Washington and works from home and shuffles paper. And that's not actually a very common type in federal employment.

Yeah. There's 3 million people who work for the federal government. And I think a lot of people's sense of who the kind of modal federal employee is, is probably off. I mean, I would say now people probably think it's somebody who lives in Washington and works from home and shuffles paper. And that's not actually a very common type in federal employment.

Most federal employees don't live in or near D.C. And there are real functions to perform here. It's also worth remembering that that the federal workforce is about as big now as it was 50 years ago. The government has a lot more contractors than it did then.

Most federal employees don't live in or near D.C. And there are real functions to perform here. It's also worth remembering that that the federal workforce is about as big now as it was 50 years ago. The government has a lot more contractors than it did then.

It's taken on a lot of things, but it hasn't really grown the federal workforce much, which means that in those really essential functions that only government employees could do, the federal workforce is actually stretched pretty thin in some important places. We shouldn't underestimate how much we've assigned to our government and how much would be left undone if there weren't people doing it.

It's taken on a lot of things, but it hasn't really grown the federal workforce much, which means that in those really essential functions that only government employees could do, the federal workforce is actually stretched pretty thin in some important places. We shouldn't underestimate how much we've assigned to our government and how much would be left undone if there weren't people doing it.

If you saw a lot of attrition in the FDA, the effects of that would be pretty serious. It's actually quite important that the agencies that keep us safe and healthy operate and do their basic work. This is the basic challenge of administration in a system as big as we're talking about.

If you saw a lot of attrition in the FDA, the effects of that would be pretty serious. It's actually quite important that the agencies that keep us safe and healthy operate and do their basic work. This is the basic challenge of administration in a system as big as we're talking about.

is that there are a lot of effects on the ground that it's possible to think through if you involve the different parts of the system in coming up with the reform. But it's very hard to think through if you're just sitting in a room and coming up with it on your own or just throwing it out there because it's something that worked at Twitter.

is that there are a lot of effects on the ground that it's possible to think through if you involve the different parts of the system in coming up with the reform. But it's very hard to think through if you're just sitting in a room and coming up with it on your own or just throwing it out there because it's something that worked at Twitter.

And you don't have very much experience in the government, as Musk and his crew do not. Yeah.

And you don't have very much experience in the government, as Musk and his crew do not. Yeah.

It runs deeper than that because the federal workforce is constrained by a challenge that isn't really present in the private sector, which is that there are salary caps that prevent you from paying the most qualified people the kinds of pay they could get in the private sector, which means that places like not just the VA, but the FDA, NIH, all the Commerce Department sub-agencies –

It runs deeper than that because the federal workforce is constrained by a challenge that isn't really present in the private sector, which is that there are salary caps that prevent you from paying the most qualified people the kinds of pay they could get in the private sector, which means that places like not just the VA, but the FDA, NIH, all the Commerce Department sub-agencies –