As we’ve watched the egregious waste, fraud, and abuse uncovered by DOGE under the leadership of Elon Musk, it’s become clear that we need the same strategy applied at the state level, in all 50 states across the country.
Our government, at all levels, has become a quagmire of cronyism where our tax dollars are used by politicians to enrich each other and their friends. This is bad enough, but it’s suicidal for a country that is $36.22 trillion in debt and strangled by inflation. And it needs to end if we expect America to continue to exist into the future.
Unfortunately, if we fail to act soon and aggressively, our debt will spiral out of control and we’re already precariously close to that today because the interest payment alone on our debt now exceeds our entire military budget. This is the part of the movie where the hero is forced to make a hail mary play to save the day by taking massive action, but isn’t sure if he has what it takes. I say this because I’m not sure the American public has what it takes today.
Fixing this catastrophic problem means undoing a lot of the things that put us in this situation in the first place, and as we’ve seen with DOGE’s national efforts, there will be a lot of pushback, both from those who benefit from the status quo, and from those who lack the financial literacy to understand the economic damage it’s causing.
Newsmax columnist and economic expert, Dr. David Phelps, sums it up quite well, saying, “Currently, the revenue needed to run our federal government is about $7 trillion dollars per year, but we only take in about $4 trillion dollars per year, piling onto our already staggering $36 trillion dollars of national debt—and the House just put forth a bill to raise the debt ceiling by another $4 trillion. Government spending is out of control and getting worse by the day, so if we don’t get this under control soon, we may soon end up in a situation we can’t recover from.”
The truth is that America’s economic situation is dire.
As a nation, we’re not that different from an individual who is already in debt but just keeps getting more credit cards to fund their lavish lifestyle. Eventually, that catches up and their expenses exceed their income, so they can no longer pay their debt. If, as a nation, our credit rating is downgraded and we can’t access enough new credit to keep things going, the entire house of cards will collapse.
As Phelps said on Monday, “If $8 Trillion can vanish within 48 hours, was it ever real wealth, or just an illusion?”
Our entire economy is being propped up by debt, and as a result, it’s all based on a lie. In order to repair this, we need to make dramatic spending cuts now.
Cliff Maloney, CEO of the grassroots political organization, Citizens Alliance, says, “One of the biggest wins DOGE has delivered so far is shining a massive spotlight on waste, fraud, and abuse at the Department of Education. For years, conservatives have talked about shrinking the DOE or eliminating it altogether—but DOGE is actually doing the work.
Under Elon Musk’s leadership, the investigation into the DOE’s $79 billion budget has already identified massive inefficiencies and questionable spending patterns. Add to that the permanent closure of USAID, a globalist slush fund that’s been funneling billions to pet projects overseas with little to no accountability. These aren’t just wins—they’re proof that when you unleash watchdogs with real teeth, the bureaucratic swamp can be drained.”
So we need a state-level DOGE, running alongside the national DOGE, and we can use the framework already built under Musk to help to get things up and running faster. For perspective, DOGE at the national level has already identified numerous opportunities to cut waste, fraud, and abuse from organizations like USAID, the Department of Education, and FEMA, to name just a few.
While I love the idea of a national DOGE and appreciate the work it’s already done, it is fighting a deeply entrenched machine loaded with resources to fight back through a variety of tactics, including non-compliance, legal filings, and organized propaganda—all at a massive scale.
A state-level DOGE, on the other hand, faces a slightly easier battle, and the citizens in each state will more directly and immediately benefit from its efforts, so it will gain traction more quickly and achieve more. This will create a compounding effect for public perception because as people start to see a positive impact, they’ll talk about it, bringing more people on board with the concept. Plus, in the long run, it also helps to build a track record that the national DOGE can leverage to generate greater collective support from Americans all across the country.
Public relations expert, Jeremy Knauff, says, “These local wins, followed by direct benefits to citizens as a result of these cuts, are essential to gaining enough public support to continue doing what needs to be done. If you look at some of the things the DeSantis administration has done from a budgetary standpoint, you can see this exact principle in action. If it seems like every time you turn around, DeSantis is cutting waste, fraud, and abuse, that’s because he is, and his approval rating continues to climb as a result. This is what most Americans want, and his administration can be used as a blueprint for a DOGE program in any state.”
Maloney highlights the reality of government at all levels today, saying, “The waste isn’t just in D.C. The truth is, your average state government is just as bloated and corrupt as the federal government. While national DOGE is targeting federal agencies, we need state-level DOGEs to audit every dollar, root out local corruption, and hold state bureaucrats accountable.
States are where most of the real action happens—education, transportation, health services, and even elections. So if you care about liberty and limited government, you can't ignore the statehouse. State-level DOGEs ensure the America First agenda doesn’t stop at the border of Washington—it goes all the way to your backyard.”
But federal and state governments have different missions and operate differently, so it’s not a direct one to one template. The infrastructure, legalities, and operations will necessitate a different approach in some cases, but the higher level strategies will remain the same.
Maloney explains a step by step strategy for effectively implementing this, saying, “First, state-level DOGEs should audit department spending—line by line. That means diving into where the money is going, who’s receiving contracts, and how much taxpayer money is tied up in administrative bloat.
They should also prioritize transparency in state education budgets, COVID-era slush funds, and DEI-style grant programs that push political agendas under the guise of ‘community support.’ In addition, a state-level DOGE should track compliance with election laws—because if we don’t get our elections right, nothing else matters. And finally, they need the power to recommend layoffs, reforms, and even criminal referrals where necessary.”
The key here, especially in today’s volatile economy, is by taking direct action to engage with our fellow citizens. The media will continue to paint the narrative that these efforts will somehow hurt the economy when the reality is the opposite. Failing to cut the egregious levels of waste, fraud, and abuse in our government—both federal and state, is absolutely critical to saving our economy and putting the power of our economic engine back in the hands of American citizens instead of greedy politicians.
That’s going to take work and it’s going to be uncomfortable.
First, we have to get our fellow citizens on board.
But let’s face it—many Americans today are not financially literate, so they don’t understand the situation we’re in, nor its severity.
When their favorite politicians, supported by many of the media pundits, tell them the problems they’re facing are because of “the other side” cutting spending and by just voting for them, their problems will be solved, it seems like an easy choice. Add in the fact that believing the alternative, which is reality, means they’ll have to make sacrifices and endure economic pain for a period of time, it’s easy to see how they settle into their comfortable beliefs.
So how do we get our fellow citizens on board when they genuinely believe these cuts will hurt them? Well, arguing on social media is unlikely to be the solution. Instead, we need to engage on a personal level, educating people about financial literacy so they’ll understand the impact of the policies that have created the economic situation we’re facing.
This requires a lot of effort, and you’ll likely face criticism and ridicule in the process, but I think that’s a small price to pay to get our country back on track. Organizations like Maloney’s Citizens Alliance are taking this fight to the streets, but it’s just as much the responsibility of average Americans too.
And how do we get politicians on board?
Maloney explains, “This is simple: voters have to demand it. The same way we built the PA CHASE from scratch and chased over 500,000 ballots to win Pennsylvania for Trump, we now need patriots at the local level to push their governors and legislators to create state-level DOGEs.
Critics are loud—but they're loud because they’re scared. DOGE threatens their cozy system. That tells me we’re over the target. If you want action, not talk—show up at your state capitol, get loud, and tell your leaders: we want watchdogs, not lapdogs. The future of American governance depends on it.
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Lori Greymont is a seasoned real estate investor, creator of the hit TV show, Funding Faceoff, and founder of a private mastermind community with the mission to help 5,000 real estate entrepreneurs get their real estate deals done and create true financial freedom.
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