by Robert M. Traxler
Ask yourself: Why is our federal government centralized in the District of Columbia area? Ask yourself why the Department of Agriculture is located in a megalopolis with the nearest farm many, many miles away.
If COVID has taught us anything, it is that decentralized offices can work, decentralized as with an organization or major components located in different locations, not all individual employees working remote. The District of Columbia is a swamp figuratively and in reality. The cost of living in the area is one of the highest in our nation, the crime rate is also one of the highest in our nation. The best folks just do not want to live there, and if they do work there, they drive long distances to and from work so their families can live in a safe, affordable area.
Having spent three years in the Washington area I was amazed by the bureaucrats and the priority of process over results. The belief by the Washington bureaucrats that the world revolved around them was strange to all but the folks who were many generational residents of the swamp.
Before being reassigned to Washington, or as I like to say, sentenced to three years in Washington for good behavior, we were stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., a post that was nicked name “fort lost-in-the-woods.” It was a rural location sure enough, but one that had the best civilian work force I ever encountered.
It was shocking to go to Washington where the Peter Principle (people are promoted to a level when they are no longer competent), was in effect; the bureaucrats needed warm bodies to ensure they did not lose job spaces and power, due to them not being filled, needed or not, competent or not.
If we decentralized the federal bureaucracy, we could attract the best people, who would be happy to work hard, and would be loyal to the nation and not the central government’s bureaucratic ethos. Consider this for a bit. If a branch of the government relocates to our area offering jobs with great benefits and working conditions, in an area like the Dorr, Wayland, Hopkins, Moline and Martin, good folks would be happy to have them, and good people could afford to live in an area that was safe and affordable, with good public schools.
A saying in Washington was that the hardest part of a Civil Service job is getting hired. Once hired, the “f**k up and move up” concept was in play. People were promoted just to fill a slot, many times not because they were fully qualified but because they had a heartbeat. People were recommended for promotion because their current government department wanted to be rid of them and that was by far the easiest way.
Why the Department of (fill in the blank) could not function fully outside of Washington is a good question, with Zoom or Meet, and if an airport was available so the brass could attend in person meeting if necessary, in Washington.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) would fight the concept hammer and sickle as it would threaten its power base, but it would result in a more efficient, effective, results orientated federal workforce.
The Department of the Army has quietly relocated the headquarters of many major commands out of Washington to more cost-effective locations, mostly in the Southeast where the majority of soldiers are stationed; cost effective and more efficient, the relocations have only improved the Army. The cost-of-living offsets (increases) for the military and civilian employees are among highest in the nation in Washington, and nonexistent in most areas in the continental United States. My opinion.
