Good Things Roll Downhill, Too - GOP Iowa Governor to Establish State-Level DOGE

There's an old military saying about a certain material, which was often found on parade grounds back in the days of horse-mounted troops, and how it tends to roll downhill. That's a metaphor, of course, for how pressure on senior officers tends to flow downwards to junior officers, to NCOs, and eventually to the E-4 Mafia and the private soldiers. But in the military as well as in government, sometimes good ideas roll downhill, too.

As an example, we have a very good idea, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) being set up by the incoming Trump administration. Now, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has announced in her State of the State address the formation of a state-level DOGE to root out wasteful government spending in the Hawkeye State.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) announced she would create a statewide Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in her Tuesday address, making her the latest governor to signal efforts to slash wasteful spending in a measure modeled after the newest federal agency.
“I like to say that we were doing DOGE before DOGE was a thing,” Reynolds said.
“And to build on our success, I’m launching our own state DOGE to find even greater savings and efficiencies in both state and local government,” she added.
The Republican governor said Emily Schmitt, general counsel of Sukup Manufacturing, would lead the department.
“In just a few short years, we’ve turned our state into a national model for bold, get-it-done government. And we’re not stopping,” she said.

Turns out, Iowa isn't alone in this.

Similarly, last week New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte(R) announced her decision to launch a DOGE commission to “slash” wasteful spending in her inaugural gubernatorial address.
“We need to make sure that the government is operating more like the lean process in manufacturing, where waste is eliminated each step in the process for a better result,” she said.

I guess good ideas can grow wings.

Speaker Mike Johnson Commits to Working With the DOGE - But What About the Debt?

As I've been saying for many years, and as I think anyone who pays attention to these things would agree, it is the nature of government to grow ever larger, more intrusive, and more expensive. The evidence of the last four years may well prompt us to add "more corrupt" to that listing, as well. But with the impending premiere of "Trump II, Rise of the Dark MAGA," and his tagging in Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to take a bite (hopefully, several large bites) out of federal spending, there seems to be a renewed emphasis on identifying and eliminating wasteful spending.

Governments at all levels waste money. It's a big part of what they do. There are no incentives for the government to be efficient, or at least, there weren't until the DOGE. Indeed, the incentives all run in the opposite direction. There's no accountability, except that in the cases of elected officials, they must answer to their voters. But too many politicians deal with this by playing Santa Claus and promising a never-ending gravy train of free stuff. They are rewarded for their profligacy with reelection.

That may be changing now; the new emphasis on rooting out wasteful government spending may spread beyond Washington. I wouldn't bet on the idea gaining much traction in Massachusetts or California, but you never know.

There's literally no downside to this.

Look, we live to bring you the best news and commentary here at RedState, but you can help; just consider upgrading to a VIP account. VIP status will open a plethora of stories and podcasts here at RedState. A Gold-level account gets you access to all of our sister sites in Townhall Media: PJ Media, Twitchy, Hot Air, Bearing Arms, and Townhall.com, while the Platinum level gets you all that plus access to a catalog of feature-length films, and a credit to the new Townhall store. Use promo code POTUS47--for a limited time--for a 74% discount.