19 | The Critical Role of Government with Paul Helmke

One of the first actions of the new US presidential administration was an executive order establishing the Department of Government Efficiency, which has been tasked with reviewing and reducing federal spending.

Since the executive order was signed January 20, the headlines have flown on a near-daily basis about cuts, reforms, and mass layoffs of federal workers. The actions are controversial, immediately triggering a host of lawsuits with some of the department’s actions already being reversed by federal court decisions. The effort has introduced rampant uncertainty into the federal government bureaucracy, and the shifting sands of the future has brought many areas of the government to a near standstill.

All the headlines about cuts and reforms grab a lot of attention, but overlooked in the winds of change are the essential role government and its programs play in our day-to-day lives.

We’re joined today by Professor of Practice Paul Helmke to talk about the government’s role in our lives. Paul is the Director of the Civic Leaders Center at the O’Neill School, and he is also the former president and CEO of the Brady Center/Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and a three-term Republican mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana.