Meanderings ~ Not all who wander are lost: Rock-tober 01, 2025

Back in the fall of 2013, because Congress was unable to pass a budget for the 2014 fiscal year, Federal employees and government contractors were furloughed as the government shutdown from October 1 to October 17. I attempted to be productive in the face of the government's inaction and kicked off the first of what's become 12 years of a little rock and roll blog.

Unfortunately, at the stroke of midnight, another October 1 has rolled around without a Federal budget. With this funding lapse, Federal workers and contractors again find themselves in limbo. I'll once again avail myself of the downtime, and I'll present my own view of the state of the union.

There is a definite allure to the administration's stated objectives:

Reduce government bloat and inefficiency.
Secure our borders.
Reduce our trade deficit.

On the surface, these are absolutely very worthy goals to pursue. However, I think the overall execution was poorly delivered with the results being diametrically opposite the original intent.

It's my opinion that Federal workers get a bad rap. I recognize that the perspective of those of us in the Capitol area is different from the rest of the country. If your only interaction with a Fed has been an intractable IRS agent, I understand how you could extrapolate your rancor to all government employees. While there may be sluggards in all work environments, my personal interactions over my career have found them to be few and far between. Unfortunately, since spring, my social feeds have been inundated with comments that were heinously gleeful about the administration's actions to reduce a "bloated" Federal workforce. Allow me to introduce you to these folks being mislabeled as superfluous and inefficient.

A lady I've known for decades is a research scientist, and her field of study was nematodes. Her face lit up when she discussed her research, but outsiders may ask, "Why are we even bothering with tiny, 1 mm worms?" Colleagues in her field were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2002 and again in 2006 because studies of nematodes had direct and actionable impacts on cancer and genetic research. These little worms also furthered studies in stem cell research, screening of new drugs, and gut health. Unfortunately, her work environment turned hostile this spring and she made the hard decision to exit the field. One of her biggest regrets is the knowledge that will be lost as research programs are shuttered.

In July, my buddy, Trevor, was let go after 23 years, despite having performance awards and a stellar service record with the Federal government. His major role was a Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) coordinator, and his office was directly responsible for maintaining accountability and the transparency of the Federal government. Although furloughed, he still took calls from his former supervisor because, even in his absence, his role was still critically necessary, and, frankly, no one knew how to do it. When I asked him how he felt about providing assistance to his former agency, he shrugged it off. "If I'm able to do some good, then I'll always choose to do good."

In my agency, we lost 60% of our HR department. Gutting the one group responsible for the orderly offboarding of personnel seems like a badly thought out plan, but poor execution appears to be a recurring theme. The day after the mass firing, some of our leadership was walking through the HR spaces and were surprised to see people manning their posts. When asked what they were doing at the office, they simply said, "If we don't help our former colleagues with their questions, who will?"

If you or anyone in your family is dependent on Federal assistance in any way, I desperately and sincerely hope the person on the other end of the line is as mission oriented as these people I've served with.

Border security and immigration is another divisive subject. I agree that those seeking entry into the US abide by all pertinent immigration laws and regulations. This is why I'm confused by ICE agents policing the halls of immigration court rooms. It seems, at least to me, people dutifully showing up to court are trying to follow the law. I think if ICE consulted their colleagues in the DEA, they'd likely be given more meaningful places to patrol.

Let me tell you another immigration story. A few years back, Trevor and his wife, through a program at their church, opened their home to a refugee family from Afghanistan, fully executing Biblical admonitions to "show hospitality to strangers". It turns out the Afghan man served alongside US forces on the frontline as an interpreter. By aiding our military, he painted a very large target on himself and his family, and they were perpetually in imminent danger. When I met him, he was recovering from wounds sustained during an attempt on his life. Extracting them from that situation was a debt of honor that had to be cleared.

The organization coordinating the sponsored and vetted immigration of this family received administrative support from USAID. When the administration summarily disbanded USAID, countless foreign nationals similar to Trevor's and his wife's houseguests still trying to enter the country were left in perilous situations. To our shame, the US broke faith with its allies.

We need to be cautious if we continue on the American-centric path we're on. A good self check is this: Are we placing Americanism above simple human dignity? Hyper patriotism is often the harbinger of not so good things to come.

We've also tried isolationism and protectionist policies as a nation before and we didn't fare that well. It's all there in history books, and it would be a shame if we didn't avail ourselves of the hard won knowledge of past generations. Hopefully Congress will take advantage of their self-inflicted downtime to review historical precedents.

We can and must do better because we are, after all, Americans.

Welcome to a very different Rock-tober.