This article was published in The Courier, National Review, and The Gazette.
What DOGE should learn from Hoover is that eliminating waste and reducing the administrative state are noble policy goals, but even more important is the restoration of constitutional principles back to government.
Former President Herbert Hoover described the federal government as having “the instincts of a vegetable” which keep spreading and growing. Since President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the growth of the federal government has accelerated unchecked. In the aftermath of the New Deal, Hoover warned against the continual rise of “big government” and the economic threats of deficit spending, high taxes, and inflation.
During the administrations of Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, Hoover was selected to chair what became the two bi-partisan Hoover Commissions (Commission on the Organization of the Executive Branch), which were tasked with reorganizing the executive branch and reducing waste in government to bring about more efficiency and economy. The first Hoover Commission was a result of the Republican victory in the 1946 midterm elections, which won them control of Congress for the first time since 1928.
By 1949 the Commission released several reports to Congress, which recommended numerous reforms to the executive branch. Further, the Commission advised for a massive realignment and consolidation of the bureaucracy. This included suggesting the elimination of two-thirds of 65 government agencies of the bureaucracy. Hoover had hoped that Republicans would build upon their victory in the 1946 elections by winning the White House in 1948. Nevertheless, President Harry S. Truman and the Democrat victory in 1948 also placed limits on how far Hoover’s recommendations would be approved.
In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation creating a second Hoover Commission. Hoover was more optimistic about this Commission, because the Republicans not only occupied the White House, but he would have “far wider powers” in making “recommendations for surgery on everything except for Congress and the Judiciary.”
Gary Dean Best, the late Hoover biographer, wrote that Hoover viewed this second Commission “as an opportunity to wage renewed warfare on the remnants of the New Deal and Fair Deal.” Since the New Deal, Hoover was concerned not only about the growth of government at the expense of constitutional principles such as federalism, but it was a steady centralization of government power which he described as collectivism and socialism.
Hoover argued that the Commission “can at least serve to expose certain overall growths in the Federal Government during the past 20 years which cry for remedies.” Specifically, he outlined three policy areas. The first was to restore federalism. Hoover described the growth of the federal bureaucracy as an “invasion” upon state and local governments. The second was to restore fiscal stability by reducing spending with the goal of balancing the budget and reducing taxes. Finally, the third goal was to prevent what Hoover referred to as the “creeping socialism” of the federal government. “The federal government has today more than 500 activities in economic competition with private citizens,” stated Hoover. This was socialism, which undermined the free enterprise system.
Hoover estimated that if Congress had approved all of the recommendations of the Commission it would save an estimated $5 billion to $7 billion per year. Although Congress never fully adopted the full recommendations of both Hoover Commissions, many reforms would be approved. Upon reflection, Hoover stated that close to 70 percent of the first Commission’s recommendations had been adopted, which he estimated saved $4-$5 billion. The second Commission was less successful, and he estimated that only 30 or 40 percent of the recommendations were approved by Congress.
Hoover’s quest to limit the federal government is a lesson for President-elect Donald Trump. The massive $36 trillion national debt symbolizes how the federal leviathan has exceeded the bounds of constitutional government as the Founders intended. In an effort to address this crisis, President-elect Trump has selected entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy for the arduous task of rooting out waste and eliminating bureaucracy. Musk and Ramaswamy will co-direct the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which will have the objective of reducing the size and scope of the federal government. Specifically focusing on the “rapid repeal of regulations and a massive reduction in the size of the federal bureaucracy.”
Ramaswamy and Musk argue that they can accomplish many of their objectives without the approval of Congress based on precedents established by the Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA and Loper Bright. “Together, these cases suggest that a plethora of current federal regulations exceed the authority Congress has granted under the law,” wrote Musk and Ramaswamy. Both maintain that they will be successful where past commissions have failed because of President Trump’s “decisive electoral mandate and a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court.”
Through executive authority DOGE seeks to rollback regulations and root out government waste, specifically focusing on “the $500 billion plus in annual federal expenditures that are unauthorized by Congress or being used in ways that Congress never intended.” Senator Joni Ernst, who chairs the Senate DOGE caucus, has recommended $2 trillion worth of wasteful government spending to Musk and Ramaswamy. Musk and Ramaswamy have also set an ambitious goal of meeting their objectives by July 4, 2026.
DOGE and the Hoover Commissions do share some of the same common goals. Both seek to eliminate waste and to restore limits to the federal government. Hoover saw an opportunity with both Commissions to not only reduce bureaucracy but restore federalism by returning many programs back to state and local governments. Further, he argued that “the original idea of this republic was a federal government of limited powers.”
Reducing government or cutting spending is never easy because politics and human nature create plenty of roadblocks. Hoover argued that Congress “has always been the stumbling block.” Associated with this was the power of special interest or “pressure groups” that lobbied Congress usually to protect and enlarge government activity. These special interests, stated Hoover, “occupy themselves pressuring the government for more spending or in opposing any reductions.” Hoover remarked that “practically every single item has met with opposition from some vested official, or it has “disturbed some vested” interest.
Whether it was Democrats wanting to preserve the New Deal, demands for greater defense spending as a result of the Cold War, or pressure groups fighting to protect their interests, all were forces that limited the enactment of the full recommendations of both Hoover Commissions.
Going forward DOGE will be confronted with the same roadblocks that challenged Hoover. Even with a Republican majority in Congress, politics and special interests will be hurdles to clear, and the pressure to continue to spend will not be easy to overcome. One advantage DOGE may have could be the conservative Supreme Court.
What DOGE should learn from Hoover is that eliminating waste and reducing the administrative state are noble policy goals, but even more important is the restoration of constitutional principles back to government.
Hoover described his quest as a “crusade against collectivism” to stop the “creeping socialism” that began with the New Deal. Musk and Ramaswamy are embarking on a similar quest in their battle against the federal leviathan.
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