{"id":21678,"date":"2025-06-02T15:53:33","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T19:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=21678"},"modified":"2025-06-02T15:53:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T19:53:33","slug":"1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"1995: My Mini-Musk Strikeout Fighting Government Waste"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

1995: When I Testified Before the Train Wreck Known as Congress<\/a><\/h1>\n

by James Bovard\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\n

President Trump hosted Elon Musk for a farewell press conference on Friday. Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team savvily exposed federal follies and spurred over $100 billion in canceled federal contracts and cutbacks. It remains to be seen whether Congress will codify the DOGE spending cuts. Even if that happens, the \u201csavings\u201d will practically vanish in the tsunami of new deficit spending championed by Trump\u2014up to $4 trillion in the next decade.<\/p>\n

Musk lamented that Trump\u2019s \u201cbig, beautiful bill\u201d \u201cundermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.\u201d When it comes to budget cuts, Musk\u2019s frustration is reminiscent of the lament of the old-time US trade negotiator: \u201cWe traded horses for rabbits and we didn\u2019t even get the rabbits.\u201d<\/p>\n

I am not surprised that DOGE thus far failed to slay the DC Boondoggle Dragon because I\u2019ve seen this script several times before.<\/strong> In November 1994, Republicans captured control of Congress. Conservatives had mobilized Americans\u2019 outrage against federal boondoggles and promised to force Uncle Sam to repent his wasteful ways.<\/p>\n

I had been writing about federal follies for the Wall Street Journal<\/em> and other venues for more than a decade. I was invited to testify at a hearing before the Subcommittee on Human Resources and Intergovernmental Relations of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. The hearing had a barnburner of a title<\/a>: \u201cWaste in human services programs: other perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hearing was chaired by Rep. Christopher Shays, a Republican from Connecticut whose portrait could be listed under dictionary definitions of \u201cunctuous.\u201d The purpose of the hearing wasn\u2019t to expose federal abuses: it was to showcase members of Congress claiming to give a damn about government waste. Committee staffers asked me to target some of the most brazen federal abuses, so I focused on federal job training fiascos and Section 8 rental voucher scandals.<\/p>\n

Federal training programs were notorious for corroding the characters of and lowering the subsequent earnings for young traine<\/strong>es. In the District of Columbia, the federal Department of Labor bankrolled the Marion Barry Youth Leadership Institute, even though Mayor Barry was perennially involved in jaw-dropping corruption scandals. I visited that program and saw kids being paid to play basketball and to argue about girls\u2019 enjoyment of sex. A few months later, Mayor Barry was nailed using crack cocaine in a federal sting operation. In my written testimony that day, I noted, \u201cThere is no truth to the rumor that the Marion Barry Institute offered a special class to teach kids how to plead entrapment if they were caught with drugs.\u201d<\/strong> Maybe the legacy of that leadership institute helped Barry get re-elected as mayor after he was released from prison.<\/p>\n

In my opening statement, I futilely sought to make congressmen recognize their personal responsibility for the failed programs they bankrolled: \u201cThere are few things sadder than the government making a false promise to help a young person, promising that person that that person will have a job skill after the training program and then\u2026 he is worse off before than he was without the training.\u201d There was a flicker of interest in the eyes of Rep. Edolphus Towns\u2014a black Democratic congressman from New York\u2014but otherwise I could have been speaking Greek to the panel.<\/p>\n

Federal job training programs continued to be a pox on enrollees.<\/strong> Almost 20 years later, President Barack Obama admitted that federal programs rely on a \u201c\u2018train and pray\u2019 approach. We train them, and we pray that they can get a job.\u201d A federal audit that year revealed that the US Labor Department didn\u2019t even bother tracking whether trainees completed training\u2014much less if they ever got a job. A few years ago, the Labor Department confessed that federal programs still fail to boost trainees\u2019 earnings.<\/p>\n

Shays was the epitome of a wishy-washy New England Republican who dreaded nothing so much as being labeled anti-government.<\/strong> He was not pleased to hear me thrashing Section 8 housing vouchers that effectively entitled lucky recipients to live rent-free, thereby subverting work ethics and individual responsibility. Shays caviled about my testimony: \u201cAs Republicans\u2026 we would like to see the private sector be in housing\u2026 We intuitively like the Section 8 concept.\u201d Shays asked if I was \u201csuggesting that we just abolish our housing programs or tell me how we can make it work?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone could show me a way that HUD would become efficient and responsible, I would love to see it,\u201d I replied. He again pushed me for a solution; I said that Section 8 was dispersing public housing residents who had a violent crime rate up to 20 times the national average.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to listen to my question,\u201d Shays remonstrated.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I\u2019m listening,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n

Shays declared that there were two options for housing the poor\u2014public housing or Section 8 vouchers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, the third option is to get rid of housing programs,\u201d I responded.<\/p>\n

Shays groused: \u201cYou have pointed out the abuses and I\u2019m wrestling with this. What is the solution to it?\u201d<\/p>\n

I shrugged: \u201cIt is probably very unpopular to realize on Capitol Hill, but it is better to have nothing than a program that drags down neighborhoods and helps ruin people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

And thus ended my visit to Capitol Hill that day.<\/p>\n

In the following years, Section 8 became notorious for boosting homicide rates in neighborhoods where subsidy recipients resettled. In the first half of 2016, at\u00a0least 30 people were killed at Section 8 residences in Chicago\u2014along with 7,000 other reported crimes. In Houston, male Section 8 recipients are\u00a0twice as likely to commit violent crimes as similar people who didn\u2019t receive housing vouchers. Some of the most outspoken critics of Section 8 are black residents who see their middle- and working-class neighborhoods disrupted by freeloading new residents.<\/p>\n

The attitude towards government waste from congressmen at that 1995 hearing was akin to someone visiting a remote city and happening to see a massive warehouse fire on Main Street. The person shrugs, \u201cAin\u2019t that a shame,\u201d and continues on their trip. Or maybe a better analogy is a grisly auto crash scene aftermath where the driver is so intoxicated that he has no comprehension of the carnage he inflicted.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shays managed to cling to his congressional seat for over 20 years until voters booted him out in 2008. As if to settle any doubts about his intellectual depravity, he then became a resident fellow at Harvard University\u2019s Kennedy School of Government. Harvard\u2019s Institute of Politics sainted<\/a> Shays as a \u201cmoderate Republican, who is socially progressive and fiscally conservative\u2026 consistently recognized for his bipartisan leadership.\u201d If there were any doubts about Shays being an unreconstructed enemy of all taxpayers, Harvard reminded people that Shays helped create AmeriCorps.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are a handful of members of Congress who are valiantly seeking to yank in the reins to prevent reckless spending from dooming America\u2019s financial future. H.L. Mencken noted that the main concern of elected politicians\u2019 souls \u201cis to keep a place at the public trough.\u201d Most politicians don\u2019t give a damn about any government waste that buys them applause, votes, or campaign contributions. Most Democrats are avidly pro-government spending, and most Republicans are satisfied to lie about opposing such spending or lying about vast triumphs in spending cuts. In 2011, Republican congressmen exaggerated by a hundredfold<\/a> the amount of federal spending cuts contained in a compromise deal with President Obama.<\/p>\n

Any federal program that perpetuates political power will be considered a success in Washington, regardless of collateral damage beyond the Beltway. There is no reason to presume that Congress is less incorrigible than HUD or any other flaming federal boondoggle.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1995: When I Testified Before the Train Wreck Known as Congress by James Bovard President Trump hosted Elon Musk for a farewell press conference on Friday. Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team savvily exposed federal follies and spurred over $100 billion in canceled federal contracts and cutbacks. It remains to be seen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21679,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[415,4585,15,377,648,3604,612,708],"class_list":["post-21678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-boondoggle","tag-christopher-shays","tag-congress","tag-job-training","tag-mencken","tag-musk","tag-section-8","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\n1995: My Mini-Musk Strikeout Fighting Government Waste - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Musk's frustrations on curbing government waste reminded me of my 1995 congressional strikeout against notorious boondoggles\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"1995: My Mini-Musk Strikeout Fighting Government Waste - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Musk's frustrations on curbing government waste reminded me of my 1995 congressional strikeout against notorious boondoggles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-02T19:53:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Congress-Hearing-Waste-Shays-1995-train-wreck.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"737\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jimbovard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/02\\\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/02\\\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"1995: My Mini-Musk Strikeout Fighting Government Waste\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-02T19:53:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/02\\\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1287,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/02\\\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/Congress-Hearing-Waste-Shays-1995-train-wreck.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Boondoggle\",\"Christopher Shays\",\"Congress\",\"Job training\",\"mencken\",\"Musk\",\"Section 8\",\"Trump\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/02\\\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/02\\\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/02\\\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\\\/\",\"name\":\"1995: My Mini-Musk Strikeout Fighting Government Waste - James Bovard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/02\\\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/02\\\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/Congress-Hearing-Waste-Shays-1995-train-wreck.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-02T19:53:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"description\":\"Musk's frustrations on curbing government waste reminded me of my 1995 congressional strikeout against notorious boondoggles\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/02\\\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/02\\\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/02\\\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/Congress-Hearing-Waste-Shays-1995-train-wreck.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/Congress-Hearing-Waste-Shays-1995-train-wreck.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":737},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/02\\\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"1995: My Mini-Musk Strikeout Fighting Government Waste\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"James Bovard\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\",\"name\":\"Jim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Jim\"},\"description\":\"Bovard's homepage is at http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/jim.bovard\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/jimbovard\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"1995: My Mini-Musk Strikeout Fighting Government Waste - James Bovard","description":"Musk's frustrations on curbing government waste reminded me of my 1995 congressional strikeout against notorious boondoggles","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"1995: My Mini-Musk Strikeout Fighting Government Waste - James Bovard","og_description":"Musk's frustrations on curbing government waste reminded me of my 1995 congressional strikeout against notorious boondoggles","og_url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/","og_site_name":"James Bovard","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","article_published_time":"2025-06-02T19:53:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1100,"height":737,"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Congress-Hearing-Waste-Shays-1995-train-wreck.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jimbovard","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/"},"author":{"name":"Jim","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"headline":"1995: My Mini-Musk Strikeout Fighting Government Waste","datePublished":"2025-06-02T19:53:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/"},"wordCount":1287,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Congress-Hearing-Waste-Shays-1995-train-wreck.jpg","keywords":["Boondoggle","Christopher Shays","Congress","Job training","mencken","Musk","Section 8","Trump"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/","name":"1995: My Mini-Musk Strikeout Fighting Government Waste - James Bovard","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Congress-Hearing-Waste-Shays-1995-train-wreck.jpg","datePublished":"2025-06-02T19:53:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"description":"Musk's frustrations on curbing government waste reminded me of my 1995 congressional strikeout against notorious boondoggles","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Congress-Hearing-Waste-Shays-1995-train-wreck.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Congress-Hearing-Waste-Shays-1995-train-wreck.jpg","width":1100,"height":737},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/02\/1995-my-mini-musk-strikeout-fighting-government-waste\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"1995: My Mini-Musk Strikeout Fighting Government Waste"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/","name":"James Bovard","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f","name":"Jim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Jim"},"description":"Bovard's homepage is at http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \"the roving inspector general of the modern state\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \"one-man truth squad.\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","https:\/\/x.com\/jimbovard"],"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21678"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21680,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21678\/revisions\/21680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}