The Empire Strikes Back

[Brian4Liberty]

The Empire Strikes Back​

by Ron Paul | Apr 28, 2025

News this week that Elon Musk will soon be departing his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is a grim reminder of what happens when you challenge big spending DC. Unfortunately, the lesson once again is that when you challenge the empire, the empire eventually strikes back.

President Trump rode into office with the help of Elon Musk’s ambitious plan to cut two trillion dollars in spending and slash useless and bloated government bureaucracies. Opinion polls demonstrated the huge popularity of the “Department.” Americans were excited when DOGE came to DC.

The exposure of the real harm being done to the country by agencies like USAID and others reinforced the idea that much of the “Federal bureaucracy” was simply not needed. Although Musk became a figure of hate for the entrenched special interests, to the large chunk of America forced to pay for Washington’s excesses he became a hero.

Many in Congress, seeing its popularity, actively embraced DOGE. Suddenly those who helped us rack up 37 trillion in debt were talking about making huge cuts and posing for photos with Musk.

Unfortunately, after the photos were taken and the hoopla had died down, Congress returned to doing what it usually does: nothing. There is no way for a DOGE to succeed without the Legislative Branch enshrining those cuts in legislation. But when the massive “Big Beautiful” spending bill was introduced, the spending cuts were nowhere to be found.

In the end it was the Beltway addiction to the global US military empire that may have hammered the final nail in DOGE’s coffin. The “Big Beautiful” spending bill actually increased military spending even after President Trump hinted that a 50 percent cut was possible. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth bragged about presiding over the “first” trillion-dollar defense budget. Starting a war on Yemen – at over a billion dollars a month – and saber rattling over Iran are the most obvious evidence that the empire has struck back. And of course the DC hawks want to “confront” China.

This isn’t the first time a populist, popular movement to tame the Beltway beast was embraced then defeated by that same beast. The “Tea Party” movement was launched in December, 2007, with volunteers supporting my 2008 Presidential campaign holding a record-breaking 24 hour “money bomb” on the anniversary of the 1773 Boston Tea Party.

Americans sick of deficit spending, over-reaching government, and the costly and counterproductive US military empire overseas, joined together to demand change. The “money bomb” success got Washington’s attention – money is the lifeblood of the political class – and before too long politicians of all stripes declared themselves to be part of the “Tea Party.”

They loved the popularity of associating themselves with the “Tea Party.” But actually cutting government? Not so much.

The first thing these newly-minted “Tea Party” members rejected was our demand for an end to the unsustainable, bloated military budget and our aggressive foreign policy. Eventually they backed away from other spending restrictions and within a few years the “brand” was diluted and tossed away.

What is the lesson here? Is it all futile? Hardly. The popularity of DOGE shows that Americans still want a much smaller government. That is great news, and the country owes a debt of gratitude to Elon for reminding us of this. But until Americans elect Representatives who have the courage to follow through beyond photo-ops, we will sadly continue down the path toward bankruptcy and collapse.

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

The Empire Strikes Back - The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity

News this week that Elon Musk will soon be departing his “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is a grim reminder of what happens when you challenge big spending DC. Unfortunately, the lesson once again is that when you challenge the empire, the empire eventually strikes back. President...

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[TheTexan]

What is the lesson here? Is it all futile? Hardly. The popularity of DOGE shows that Americans still want a much smaller government.

The popularity of DOGE shows that Americans like the idea of a smaller government.

Whether they can stomach the reality of making those changes, is a much different question.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

The popularity of DOGE shows that Americans like the idea of a smaller government.

Whether they can stomach the reality of making those changes, is a much different question.

Americans like it. Congress does not, with some notable exceptions...

 

[TheTexan]

Americans like it. Congress does not, with some notable exceptions...

I'm of the belief that Congress is a roughly accurate representation of Americans.

People like to fantasize otherwise but if there was truth to that fantasy then why do they keep reelecting them over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over

and over and over and over and over





























and over and over and over and over

 

[Brian4Liberty]

I'm of the belief that Congress is a roughly accurate representation of Americans.

People like to fantasize otherwise but if there was truth to that fantasy then why do they keep reelecting them over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over

and over and over and over and over


and over and over and over and over

They are just like an average American, an average person being put into a position where they sold their soul, became compromised, or both, by special interests...

 

[ClaytonB]

I'm of the belief that Congress is a roughly accurate representation of Americans.

People like to fantasize otherwise but if there was truth to that fantasy then why do they keep reelecting them over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over

Congress might or might not be an accurate representation of Americans, but it's not an accurate representation of America and that matters. A lot. It's part of why we're not a democracy. Part of the purpose of civil leadership is to lead in the civil sphere. We magically understand that when it comes to war but, somehow, in every other department, this is an impenetrable mystery or is held to be indistinguishable from tyranny, as though Grandpa saying, "Hey, you should probably keep it under 90 out on the freeway, son" is strangulating patriarchy or something. Sometimes The People are wrong about things. They're never wrong about what they want to buy and sell, or how much to charge. But those are the things that the Nanny State populists want to regulate to death, meanwhile, the actual things that government should be doing (overseeing basic civic functions, ensuring that basic civil infrastructure is in functioning order, etc.) are either left undone or are criminally corrupt.

"The empty vessel makes the loudest sound". The problem with Congress is that it is too representative, and in the wrong ways. Lobbyists are well represented. Israel is well represented. The MIC is well represented. The Surveillance Industrial Complex is well represented. Big Pharma is well represented. All of these powerful special-interests are well-represented because they engage in legal bribery, aka lobbying. That the only thing you have to do to make bribery legal is call it something else goes to your point that there is a sickness in We The People. It's a spiritual sickness. We lie. We steal. We cheat. And so we are ruled by liars, cheats and thieves, not because they are so numerous but because God is just and God judges us for our sins, not "one day in the future", right here, right now. For example, Wokism isn't about the popularity of sexual deviancy, they really are a tiny minority. It's about the coddling and harboring of depravity with the walls of the church. God tells the truth all the time, even about what is happening behind closed doors. It gets trumpeted from the rooftops. The solution to our nation's problems starts with us, with you and me. "When you guys stop doing all the sins that I don't have a taste for, I'll think about cleaning up my own life. In the meantime, I'm going to keep feeding my energy to the demonic world-order through my own pet sins." This is why national repentance is the only real solution. All other half-measures are doomed to end in utter catastrophe. There is no non-catastrophic future that doesn't involve Old Testament-style, sackcloth-and-ashes national repentance. The judgment of God is coming -- that's not a rhetorical expression, it's coming soon. In many ways, it's already here, but most are too blind to see it...

 

[Cleaner44]

Congress does whatever they want in spite of voters.

Primary elections are the key.

 

[Madison320]

The Empire Strikes Back​

We'll cut spending when the pain of doing the same thing is greater than the pain of change.

Specifically that pain will be inflation.

 

[TheTexan]

Congress does whatever they want in spite of voters.

Primary elections are the key.

Didn't we try that already

How many more times do we need to try that

 

[Cleaner44]

Didn't we try that already

How many more times do we need to try that

True and I think it has helped some. Republican primary voters now reject neocons and are much more inclined to support a libertarinish candidate in my opinion. If we are going to bother with the ballot box, primaries are the time to stop the uni-party. It is certainly a much more favorable time in that regard than 2007/2008 was.

Nothing to get too worked up about since the robocops and AI are going to ultimately destroy humanity!

 

[Voluntarist]

Popularity of DOGE??? Well, if you go by Elon's self-selecting X poll, then I suppose so. But otherwise, it's below water on approval.