By Timothy D. Naegele[1]
Government at all levels of America is a vast wasteland of tragic inefficiency and incompetence. People are paid relatively large sums of money to do nothing—or even worse, to screw things up. The Coronavirus pandemic lockdowns have underscored that fact. Many government workers stayed home and did essentially nothing for long periods of time; and some are still doing that.
When I worked in the Pentagon during the height of the Vietnam War, it was affectionately referred to as “Fort Fumble” by many who worked there. The feeling was that the only reason we had survived as a nation was that our enemies were more incompetent than we were. The fact is that JFK-Robert McNamara-Lyndon Johnson’s War never should have been fought in the first place.
Approximately 55,000 Americans died for nothing, and some were my friends. Many more were maimed for life, physically and mentally. Fast forward to George W. Bush’s Afghan and Iraq Wars, and the pattern was repeated. But incompetence spreads across all levels of government, from the highest federal departments in Washington, D.C., to the local offices of the Social Security Administration and other federal agencies, to the offices of the lowest levels of state and local governments.
Government does not work, period. The FBI and Department of Justice are corrupt, and routinely manipulated for political purposes.[2] Indeed, the coin of the realm in Washington and elsewhere for lawyers and lobbyists is their ability to influence and obtain results. In the process, they provide prostitutes or simply young girls who are trying to climb the social ladder of Washington and other power centers—including the lowest levels.[3]
None of this would constitute the tragedy that it is if Russia’s KGB-trained killer Vladimir Putin was not threatening nuclear war if he does not get his way in Ukraine and beyond; and if China was not poised to invade Taiwan, and move elsewhere in the world. Americans cannot afford to have a leadership vacuum, with its layers of government performing at less than is possible—and World War III possibly staring us in the face.
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© 2022, Timothy D. Naegele_____
[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass). See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6 and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/ He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service). Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams. He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com
[2] See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2012/03/21/the-united-states-department-of-injustice/ (“The United States Department of Injustice”)
[3] See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/09/24/washington-is-sick-and-the-american-people-know-it/ (“Washington Is Sick And The American People Know It”)
NaegeleBlog 
THE DEEP STATE COOKBOOK
I don’t think anyone seriously thinks the government is cost efficient or particularly competent at their mission or individual jobs. In my experiences, its largely office “politics” and perceptions. Always been that way too. It sure has not gotten any better in recent years, as measured by objective results. Life goes-on, in and out of government regardless. Consider yourself lucky if you receive your mail, not a neighbor’s mail.
The Department of Justice has been overly politicized and the FBI has become grotesquely corrupt, at least at the top agency echelons. The fish rots from the head on-down. In-fact, overall public confidence in government is falling like a rock the world over. Nobody really respects government anymore at any level.
This dramatic decline in public confidence in our nation’s vital institutions has many far reaching implications, as well. For example, It may become much more difficult in the future for any elected leader or official to make any meaningful difference while in-office if nobody trusts the system or the elections themselves. As President Gerald Ford once said: “We have a crisis in confidence” ( or maybe it was Democratic President Jimmy Carter ?)
Bill O’Reilly reported yesterday that only 25% of Los Angeles City residents bothered to vote in the recent mayoral election. Nobody much cares anymore about neighborhood quality of life, crime, or politics and apathy is the dominant attitude at-large throughout SoCal, for the most part today. So, in-view of these facts and trends, I can NOT be overly optimistic about our future.
Face the facts: America is in comprehensive financial collapse and so is much of the Third World and Europe, as well. War only complicates the situation. If I were situated in rural Utah today, I think I could better weather the coming storm ( or “Hurricane” according to Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan Chase). During the Great Depression people were much more independent and took better care of themselves. Rural Americans knew from birth that life is difficult, both before, during, and after the Great Depression of the 1930’s.
We thus had a measure of national resilience back then. We grew a vegetable garden at home, had a chicken coop, and maybe in rural areas, a milk cow, as well. We did not need to go to the grocery store every week and were not dependent on government handouts because there were none before FDR. We were able to defeat the Japanese and the NAZIS with God’s help. Can we muster the collective resolve and strength of will to do so once again if called upon? Only time will tell but for now, we remain divided and far from ready for another World War (III) should one develop. If it happens next year, we may lose the war and our culture forever. Dangerous times, “interesting times”.
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Thank you, Craig. Thoughtful observations, always.
Your last three sentences are particularly poignant.
Both of my parents were born and raised in Minneapolis, and met in grade school. My mother and her parents came to Southern California first, and then my father. To the best of my knowledge, none of them were affected by the Great Depression or World War II. Indeed, they built our home a mile or so west of UCLA’s campus in Westwood in 1937, before I was born.
As you may recall, I spent time with Ansel Adams in Yosemite and Carmel. Possibly the best Depression-era photo was taken by Dorothea Lange in Nipomo, California, south of San Luis Obispo.
See, e.g., https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/dorothea_lange
It has been described as follows:
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Tim, Right-on ! RCS
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Thank you, the Great Schultz. 😊
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The FBI’s Thugs Enforce Infanticide
See, e.g., https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/pro-life-home-raid
The FBI has been corrupt since the days of J. Edgar Hoover.
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DECLINE OFFERS FEW DESIRABLE OUTCOMES
William Durant:
“No Great Power is defeated by a foreign enemy until after it first destroys itself from within”
So, we have the sequence of events, first destroy America from the inside with stupidity (bad leadership) and bad economics, then allow our enemies to finish us off. Right now, an America in comprehensive decline cannot possibly win a two-front war at the same time ( China-Taiwan and Russia-Ukraine). So, if China and Russia were ready at the same moment to up the scope of war, we would then have to decide whom we aid.
There is NO possible way an America in economic decline could fight in both Theaters and expect a good outcome. We would likely lose the war. Then we might see our currency ( U.S. Dollar) depreciate or crash in global currency markets and fuel much higher inflation.
Soon thereafter, we might slip into Second Power or even Third Power status such as France or England, at best. If we are nuked, then all bets are off. Back to the stone age overnight in that event.
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Thank you as always, Craig, for your comments.
See also https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/will-putin-nuke-london (“Will Putin nuke London?”)
His health is declining, but he is a KGB-trained killer, who rose up through the ranks in the DDR, or East Germany.
I was in Berlin when the “Iron Curtain” fell, and Soviet troops were selling their uniforms and plumbing fixtures from their barracks, and retreating to “tent cities” in the USSR. It was total humiliation for Putin and those like him.
Will he launch a nuclear war? It’s anyone’s guess. But he certainly has the nuclear arsenal to do so. By the same token, China’s Xi Jinping may move on Taiwan; and their combined actions may launch the unthinkable, World War III.
See, e.g., https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/sep/26/coast-guard-spots-chinese-russian-naval-ships-off-/ (“Coast Guard spots Chinese, Russian naval ships off Alaska”)
And yes, most Americans are riveted on the own concerns: crime, inflation, shortages. God love them, they view the United States as an “island,” bordered by the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; and most are very myopic in terms of world affairs.
Yet, these are the issues of today. A military draft might have to be implemented, involving both men and women, to augment our military forces, which would affect the present generation directly.
See also https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/ukraine-russia
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