What DOGE Gets Wrong about Tech and Government

Lessons learned by civic tech, forgotten by DOGE.

Jun 03, 2025

∙ Paid

Members of the DOGE network rarely offer thoughtful accounts that depart from the Musk narrative (government is broken, full of talentless hacks, DOGE is fixing things). So I was interested to see a DOGEr express genuine circumspection. This came from Sahil Lavingia, a startup founder, who was interviewed by Ernie Smith about his experience with DOGE.

La…

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A guest post by

Don Moynihan

Professor of Public Policy, Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan. Immigrant. Researches and teaches about government, administrative burdens, and politicization.