State-Level DOGE Initiatives: Political Theater or Genuine Government Reform?

Across the heartland and southern states, governors eager to ride the wave of former President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are launching their own versions of the program. Presented as bold moves to slash government waste and streamline bureaucracy, these state-level efforts appear, on closer inspection, to be more about optics and political signaling than substantive reform. Is This New or Just Noise? Republican governors from Iowa to Florida have embraced their version of DOGE, touting it as proof they’re aligned with the America First agenda. But experts like Steve Slivinski from the Cato Institute caution that what we’re...