How Trump & Musk Can Slash Spending and Shrink Government
Thoughts for the new president to reduce government debt, cut wasteful spending, and honor the Constitution’s limited scope for government.
Government spending today is like a runaway train. We’ve got a national debt closing in on $36 trillion, and federal spending continues to bloat programs and agencies that don’t belong in DC’s hands. But what if our new president took a hard look at the Constitution, focusing only on what the Founders intended, and cut the rest? Imagine redirecting our government toward its true constitutional roles—leaving the people and states to handle the rest. Here’s how the new president could take on this massive task, bringing government back down to size and getting our finances in order.
Cut Programs Not Specified in the Constitution
This might seem radical today, but the Constitution very specifically outlines a pretty short list of federal responsibilities. The Founders designed the federal government to focus on essentials: national defense, foreign diplomacy, maintaining a federal court system, and regulating interstate commerce among others (see below). Everything else was supposed to be left to the states or the people.
Here is the actual list:
The power to levy taxes
The power to borrow money
The power to regulate commerce (both interstate and with foreign nations)
The power to establish naturalization and bankruptcy laws
The power to coin money and regulate its value
The power to punish counterfeiting
The power to establish post offices and roads
The power to promote science and arts by securing patents
The power to establish lower federal courts
The power to punish piracy and felonies on the high seas
The power to declare war
The power to raise and support armies
The power to provide and maintain a navy
The power to make rules for the military
The power to call forth the militia
The power to organize, arm, and discipline the militia
The power to govern the District of Columbia and other federal properties
The problem is that we’ve created an entire universe of federal programs that have no constitutional mandate. Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Energy—these weren’t around in the early days of the republic for a reason. They weren’t seen as federal issues! If the Trump & Musk were to identify and phase out these extra-constitutional programs, we’d start seeing savings immediately. Let’s call it a "Constitutional Realignment." This isn’t about removing valuable services; it “is” about letting states and private citizens decide the best way to provide them. Shrinking the scope of government to its constitutional roles would save hundreds of billions of dollars per year and let local communities reclaim the power to govern themselves. What a concept!
For more on this point check out “The Heritage Foundation” article titled: Limited Government, Unlimited Administration: Is it Possible to Restore Constitutionalism?
Let’s cut to the heart of the matter; the current federal budget process is a disaster. It encourages overspending, lacks accountability, and uses “baseline budgeting”—a fancy way of saying that every agency starts with last year’s budget and just adds on top. That’s not budgeting; that’s autopilot and incredibly inefficient. So how about a change Elon?
Trump & Musk could push Congress to adopt a “zero-based budgeting” approach, where every program has to justify every dollar, every year. Imagine the impact: instead of taking spending for granted, agencies would need to prove their value or face cuts. We’d immediately see massive reductions in waste, fraud, and redundancy. (though in fairness it’d take a bit of time to implement such an approach.)
While we’re at it, Trump should target the chronic problem of pork-barrel spending. Every year, Congress allocates billions for “pet projects” in their home districts—bridges to nowhere, museums, and pet research projects, the list is massive. Cutting these unnecessary projects and enforcing a ban on earmarks would go a long way toward balancing the budget. Getting our leaders to spend responsibly shouldn’t be impossible. It’s just a matter of political will and even more so the will of the people to demand change.
For a breakdown on government waste that will make your skin crawl, at least it should, check out Citizens Against Government Waste’s annual “Pig Book.” Sadly 2022 is the latest version of this book but it is an eye opener…
Restructure Entitlement Programs to Protect Future Generations
No one likes to talk about it, but entitlement spending—Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid—is the real elephant in the room. Entitlement programs make up nearly two-thirds of the federal budget, and they’re ballooning. If left unchecked, they’re set to swallow our entire budget, leaving little for anything else. And we can’t just ignore the people who rely on these benefits. So what’s the solution?
First, we need a commitment to long-term reforms. Social Security, for instance, could be revamped with private accounts or means-testing, so people who don’t need the benefits can rely on other income sources. For Medicare, we can shift toward “premium support,” giving future recipients a subsidy to buy private insurance. These kinds of changes wouldn’t affect today’s seniors, but they’d work towards ensuring these programs are still around for future generations without bankrupting the nation. There are numerous other options available but again it goes back to the political will to demand change.
Second, Medicaid could be returned to the states through block grants. Let states decide how to provide for low-income residents, they know their needs better than Washington does. Giving states control would encourage innovation and help curb runaway costs.
Obviously I’m barely touching on this topic, but the information is out there, you just have to dig around and get yourself informed. Are you seeing a theme here?
Empower States and Local Governments to Take Over Federal Roles
The Founders believed in “federalism,” the idea that states should handle most domestic affairs. But the federal government has slowly eaten away at state authority, taking over local responsibilities like education, housing, and healthcare programs. This centralization has only grown the federal government and burdened taxpayers with federal-level bureaucracy for local issues.
Trump can reverse this by championing a “Devolution of Power” initiative (I think this has a nice ring, what do you think?). This approach would transfer federal programs and funding back to the states, giving them autonomy over key areas like transportation, education, and welfare. Instead of bloated federal departments, states would control these services, responding directly to their people’s needs as was originally intended in the consitution.
Let’s take education as an example: the Department of Education spends billions yearly and we’ve seen an actual decrease in student abilities. Why not give states full control over education funding and policy? States could better tailor their schools to local needs and eliminate federal overreach in classrooms. With power and resources returned to state governments, citizens would see more responsive, efficient services—without Washington’s incredible waste and inefficiency. See “Is Federal Control Failing Our Public Schools? 45 Years of Failure Says YES!” here at RFP.
When it comes to reducing government spending, eliminating debt, and shrinking government, Trump, as the 47th president, has a choice to make. He can continue down the path of bloated budgets, federal overreach, and spiraling debt. Or he can take bold steps to return us to a government that respects the Constitution’s original limits. Sounds like he and Elon have a plan and I can’t wait to see it. You?
Our founders trusted the American people, not a central authority, to manage their lives. By cutting unnecessary programs, reforming entitlement spending, and returning power to the states, President Elect Trump could transform America’s future to one that’s free, prosperous, and sustainable for generations to come.
Just Sayin…