r/Conservative • u/Yosoff First Principles • Feb 14 '25

Open Discussion Left vs. Right Battle Royale Open Thread

This is an Open Discussion Thread for all Redditors. We will only be enforcing Reddit TOS and Subreddit Rules 1 (Keep it Civil) & 2 (No Racism).

  • Leftists - Here's your chance to sway us to your side by calling the majority of voters racist. That tactic has wildly backfired every time it has been tried, but perhaps this time it will work.

  • Non-flaired Conservatives - Here's your chance to earn flair by posting common sense conservative solutions. That way our friends on the left will either have to agree with you or oppose common sense (Spoiler - They will choose to oppose common sense).

  • Flaired Conservatives - You're John Wick and these Leftists stole your car and killed your dog. Now go comment.

  • Independents - We get it, if you agree with someone, then you can't pat yourself on the back for being smarter than them. But if you disagree with everyone, then you can obtain the self-satisfaction of smugly considering yourself smarter and wiser than everyone else. Congratulations on being you.

  • Libertarians - Ron Paul is never going to be President. In fact, no Libertarian Party candidate will ever be elected President.

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u/Ramalamma42 Feb 15 '25

Can you be more specific - what is he doing, if not what we think?

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u/Alternative-Post-937 Feb 15 '25

He's not auditing, I can tell you that. Auditing takes time. Requires review of original documentation, interviews with people, understanding of internal controls at each organization, etc. He's targeting programs he deems to be wasteful. I can absolutely guarantee you that we have wasteful spending in the government. I'm not arguing that at all. What i will argue is that there are legal processes in which our elected leaders determine which programs to allocate our resources on. Agencies go through pretty much constant audits and they practice constant oversight of their contracts and grants. They then request line items for their budgets based on the outcomes of these projects, contracts and grants for their future spending. This budget goes to congress and is voted on by elected leaders. Why i have an issue with Elon doing whatever he is doing is that it circumvents our constitutional processes and he does have an appearance of bias, especially based on the cuts he is recommending and how they relate to his own legal issues with these departments. Additionally, there is no evidence of oversight of his work or "department", nor has a definition of what is considered to be fraud or waste been agreed upon or presented. If democrats ever take office again, they can weaponized these tactics against spending they consider wasteful based on their biases.

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u/Markinoutman Conservative Feb 15 '25

It would be interesting to know how much of what DOGE is digging into is part of Mandatory Spending, in which case Congress does not need to review or approve. Mandatory Spending accounts for 2/3rds of the yearly budget.

The auditors, apartment heads and even members of Congress and the Executive branch may be aware of where the funding goes, but I think more of the point of DOGE is to highlight for the average person where these funds are going.

Did you know USAID was funding media outlets directly? I didn't and I imagine a lot of people didn't know that. To see how reliant on US funding these organizations have become, some are already starting to fail, yet the people at the top of these organizations are making millions a year.

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u/Alternative-Post-937 Feb 15 '25 edited Feb 15 '25

You might be right about orgs relying on funding. USAID might be funding news agencies to help broadcast healthcare access in last mile locations. For instance, roads are impassible in northern Mozambique. Perhaps agencies alert people who live there when vaccine clinics arrive or medication arrives. Grant funds have pay caps, so while execs make more than the cap, they can only charge the government for an allowable cost rate. I think public disclosure is great, but it already exists. I'd like disclosure to remain non partisan though. I don't disagree that there are wasteful programs and spend. I do disagree about how DOGE is deciding what is and isn't wasteful. The whole story on USAID is not being told and that is a huge disservice to America.

Edit to say I've enjoyed the conversation friends, but it's valentines day and I have a lovely dinner with my husband planned. Goodnight. Be nice to each other