For all the talk of making government more efficient, the latest wave of federal staff cuts is less about efficiency and more about something far more insidious: the systematic dismantling of public institutions that serve the common good.
Over the past month, two critical agencies—the General Services Administration (GSA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—have been gutted by directives from the Trump administration. The justifications differ, but the result is the same: government agencies designed to serve the public have been deliberately kneecapped, their workers thrown out, and their missions derailed.
The GSA: When Efficiency Becomes a Cover for Sabotage
At the GSA, the target was 18F, a technology unit that builds digital services for essential programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. This was a group of researchers, designers, and engineers who had one job: make government work better for the American people. And yet, in a decision announced in the dead of night, the agency axed nearly 100 employees, citing a need to “streamline” operations.
This wasn’t about cost-cutting—it was about remaking government in the image of Silicon Valley venture capitalists, where efficiency is a euphemism for cutting services and dismantling oversight. Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is driving these cuts, with a clear mandate: shrink government until it serves only the wealthy and well-connected.
The NIH: The Attack on Science and Public Health
The assault on the NIH is even more alarming. More than 1,200 federal scientists and administrators have already been fired, with more layoffs expected. Worse still, research funding—the lifeblood of American scientific innovation—has been frozen for weeks, with top officials refusing to follow federal court orders demanding the money be released.
The consequences? Clinical trials are shutting down. Promising research into cancer treatments, infectious diseases, and mental health has been put on ice. The Trump administration’s excuse? A bureaucratic restructuring to “realign priorities”—which in reality means defunding science that challenges their ideological agenda. Funding for health disparities research is under threat, meaning that studies investigating how diseases disproportionately impact marginalized communities could soon disappear entirely.
A Government That No Longer Serves Its People
These aren’t isolated incidents. They are part of a larger war on the very idea of a government that works for all Americans, not just the wealthy and powerful.
- Slashing 18F at GSA means ordinary Americans will struggle to access government services that should be modern and seamless.
- Gutting the NIH means fewer life-saving medical breakthroughs, slower vaccine development, and less oversight over dangerous public health crises.
- Starving these agencies of talent and funding means weakening government itself, making it easier to claim that “government doesn’t work”—after deliberately sabotaging it.
The Road Ahead: What Happens When We Gut the Public Sector?
History tells us what happens when the public sector is hollowed out. When you eliminate public servants, you don’t make government go away—you just hand control over to private interests. We’ve seen it with military contracts, privatized prisons, and for-profit healthcare. The end result? Higher costs, worse outcomes, and a government that serves corporate bottom lines instead of public needs.
Make no mistake: These cuts aren’t about “trimming the fat.” They are about making government incapable of fighting back against corporate power, scientific misinformation, and economic inequality.
What Can We Do?
The first step is calling this what it is: an attack on the public good. We need to reject the false choice between “big government” and “small government.” The real question is who government is designed to serve.
We must demand:
- The full restoration of NIH funding and the rehiring of fired researchers.
- A halt to the privatization and dismantling of essential government services.
- Accountability for political leaders who use “efficiency” as an excuse to destroy public institutions.
A functioning government isn’t just a bureaucratic luxury—it’s a moral necessity. If we allow this trend to continue, the damage won’t be measured just in job losses. It will be measured in lives lost, scientific progress halted, and a democracy that serves fewer and fewer people.