Trump can fix biased, bloated bureaucracy by abolishing the civil service

A new broom sweeps clean, goes the old saying, but President Trump needs to approach the federal bureaucracy with more than just a broom. Maybe something like a bulldozer.With an imminent budget crisis — on her way out the door, Biden Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen informed us that, oh by the way, the federal government was out of cash — Trump should seize the opportunity to slash spending, lay off federal employees (permanently), move federal offices to lower-cost areas like Plattsburgh, NY or Las Vegas (New Mexico’s Las Vegas, not the Nevada one), and impound funds earmarked for unproductive regulations and operations. DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, will produce a long-term plan, but Trump should strike hard with such initial savings right off the bat.And there’s another move that Trump should take, one that will not only save money and improve efficiency, but also return the United States to the Founders’ intent: He should abandon the bloated, unconstitutional federal civil-service system.Prior to the adoption of the Pendleton Act in 1883, government employment operated according to the “spoils system,” under which hiring in the executive branch was controlled by the president, the actual executive. When a new administration came in, everyone’s job was up for grabs, at least potentially. This “rotation in office” had several advantages, which were widely appreciated at the time and propounded by presidents from Jefferson to Jackson to Lincoln. Chief among them: Instead of an entrenched bureaucracy, rotation in office meant fresh blood.Contrary to popular belief, the arrival of a new president didn’t mean that everyone with a government job left it. Even Andrew Jackson, upon taking office as an iconoclastic outsider, replaced only about 10% of the federal workforce with his own people. Every president understood the value of continuity — and hiring new people is hard work.But under the spoils system, the fact that th...