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It's just like when there are cuts to school budgets: the affected orgs, who oppose the cuts, make sure that the effects of the cuts create maximum sympathy as a PR campaign against the cuts. Meanwhile, none of the org administrators suffer a salary cut.
Does this emotional blackmail work? It just makes me harden my heart. I feel like from a game theory standpoint, one must never submit to these kind of tactics, otherwise the other person just gets whatever they want.
Earlier, I expressed disappointment about cutting these programs root and branch, preferring instead a more surgical method.
Now I realize I was wrong. USAID must be pulled up by its roots and rebuilt with people who care about their mission more than their paycheck. Imagine how much good could be done without all the grifters and ideologues in the way.
The conservative in me wants slow, methodical cuts that do the least damage to the good parts. But I also understand that those cuts are easier to block/mitigate, and maybe the best thing is to destroy and rebuild the good parts. People will suffer in the process, but that's true of all change.
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Yes. It works on most of the normies most of the time.
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