Here on the right side of the American political spectrum, we're used to railing against "the government." I've done plenty of it in speeches and in writing over the years. Most of the time, I will refer to "the bureaucracy" when I am making a point about how awful the government is. Bureaucracy is, after all, what clogs the arteries of the federal government.
What frustrates those of us who have to function in the real world about the federal bureaucracy is the utter lack of accountability. While the rest of us have to do our jobs well if we want to keep them, federal bureaucrats can be perennial screw-ups and upwardly mobile at the same time.
Money is no object when it comes from the taxpayers and the magic Monopoly printing machine that the government keeps for special occasions.
A recent classic example of bureaucratic inefficiency can be found at the Pentagon, which has been struggling to show where all the money it gets is going.
The Pentagon has failed its annual audit for the sixth year in a row, according to the Defense Department’s chief financial officer.
Out of 29 individual sub-audits of the department, only seven passed this year, the same as the year prior, Comptroller Mike McCord told reporters Wednesday.
One other received a “qualified” rating — a step down from passing — while three are ongoing and 18 were given failing grades, with no fraud found, he said.
What a relief! There was no fraud found. That wasn't the only thing that wasn't found, by the way. According to the article, "half of DOD’s assets can’t be accounted for." I guess we're supposed to take comfort in the fact that the only problem is incompetence, not fraud.
Hot on the heels of this stellar annual failure, the Pentagon has decided to be even more wasteful, frivolous, and ridiculous.
The Department of Defense (DOD) is requesting approximately $114 million to finance its latest round of diversity initiatives.
The DOD plans to use the funds for "diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility" (DEIA) programs in fiscal year 2024.
"The FY 2024 President’s Budget request demonstrates the DoD’s commitment to DEIA and includes $114.7 million for dedicated diversity and inclusion activities," the department wrote in its Strategic Management Plan for fiscal year 2022 to 2026.
Wars are popping up everywhere, China gets bolder by the minute, and our Dept. of Defense wants over a hundred million to blow on DEI insanity. It's good to know that when China does finally invade, our military will be inclusive and able to properly convey their pronouns to our occupiers.
It's embarrassing enough when private-sector organizations go all-in on DEI; it's probably a sign of the Republic's imminent demise that our military wants money that the country doesn't have to spend on it. There's also the fact that DEI is rather insidious at its core. As Kevin reminds us near the end of this post, DEI is a leftist vehicle for control.
Oh, it's also riddled with anti-Semitism.
Perhaps the DOD should focus on things like being prepared for something more serious than a scolding from the progressives. We were safer when the military brass wasn't hyper-obsessed with being popular with the campus commies.
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