Mocking Governance

POTUS Trump’s contempt of Federal employees and suspicion that the American Deep State have been working against him is not a secret. According to an American  veteran named Dave Peterson, “If anyone is confused or skeptical about the existence of the deep state, a group of federal workers has banded together to actively resist Trump’s campaign to root out fraud, waste, and abuse, protecting taxpayers’ dollars. These anti-good government dissidents are found on social media as #AltGov. The real focus of the unhappy workforce is the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) leader, Elon Musk”. Well that may  explain the parting of ways between Trump and Musk.

It seems DOGE’s admirable endeavor to find and eliminate wasteful government spending and the practitioners of this assault has garnered the ire of those most likely to be the culprits. The Guardian reported, “Government employees fight the Trump administration’s chaos by organizing and publishing information on Bluesky,…a clandestine network of employees and contractors at dozens of federal agencies [that] began talking on an encrypted app about how to respond … Within hours, the network had agreed on a recommended response.” American analysts opine that such activities are symbolic of what the Deep State is all about. There is more to this development than identifying defiant and discontented federal bureaucrats. The deep state operatives are nestled within a larger institution, the Administrative State. The administrative state comprises the nameless, faceless bureaucrats responsible for implementing the laws and presidential executive orders. This extension of the executive branch turns legislation and directives into regulations that can be applied as appropriate. 

As the Administrative State operates in the US today, it embodies the attributes of a separate and fourth branch of government and embodies the fears of the founding fathers. James Madison explained, “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” Left unattended, the administrative state has become the tyranny the Founding Fathers had hoped to avoid. Consequently, when the Trump administration took on the task of reducing the size and inefficiency of the administrative (read deep) state, a level of dissatisfaction was inevitable. According to WSJ, “In his second term, Trump is determined to slay the bureaucratic beast he knows all too well from his first term and the Biden years. DOGE’s efforts are epic, breaking more than a century of acquiescence to the deep state.” Alleged corruption notwithstanding; will Trump be justified to treat whole of Administrative State as villains despite their significant role in making USA what it is today?

Since birth, Pakistan has experienced different systems of governance from Presidential rule, democratic system (recently confessed as always ‘hybrid’ by the worthy defence minister of Pakistan and other politicians) to pure military rule. However, what has throughout remained in place is the Pakistani Administrative State generally termed establishment, whose role and contributions can be debated both positively as well as negatively depending on which side of the aisle one stands. After the greatest debacle of Pakistan’s history in 1971, converting Pakistan into an invincible Nuclear Armed Muslim country is the greatest credit that goes to the colloquial establishment and the Hybrid Governments, perhaps in the same proportion as the discredit given for the loss of East Pakistan. The second biggest credit that goes to the Hillary Clinton dubbed Pakistani Deep State is successfully defending the country against a range of multi-directional external and complex internal threats especially from 1979 till to date by rendering the unmatched supreme sacrifices. Besides, the positive role played by the establishment in aid of civil administration during natural calamities like floods, earthquakes and many man-made disasters has always remained praiseworthy and way beyond the call of duty. Moreover, much resented but well-purposed efforts made to curb corruption, improve management and efficiency in many stagnant government organs and the positive role played in improving the economy as well as foreign policy of Pakistan is an undeniable reality.

Although, the system of government in the US and Pakistan can neither be mirror-image nor wholly comparable; yet, the POTUS Trump’s efforts to root out fraud, waste, and abuse, protecting taxpayers’ dollars is what is common in any form of government in Pakistan too, which needs to be come under establishment/ Administrative State's sharp focus with total impartiality. Since Armed Forces of Pakistan represent every segment of the society from every nook and corner of the country with efficient systems and fair chances of progression in place, therefore it has always served as a national binding and cohesive force as I wrote in a published piece in 1990 titled "National Centre of Gravity". In the given national and international environment, and in order to remain the much desired Defenders and National Unifying Force, the lingering discontent related to elections rigging, political victimization by misuse of state power, biased election commission and dysphoric judiciary, self aggrandisement, media projections and extravagance on public funds,  repeated presence of notorious anti-establishment and NAB wanted people in the government are some of the most important issues that need to be addressed by the Establishment on priority for sustainable political and economic stability. That shall also add to effective deterrence  against the multiple looming threats.

If a a free and fair elections and removal of most undesirable people and special quota seats are considered inappropriate and “An Ideal Political System for Pakistan” is still a distant dream; then instead of having a mocking hybrid system of governance, why not once again try out 1958 Presidential System under a Field Marshal that is still regarded as the best period for development and economic growth in Pakistan? Let the credit go where it is due with complete responsibility.