Car Salesmen Running America: How McNamara and Musk's "Efficiency" Agenda Devastates Communities
Experience the alarming parallels between Vietnam War architect Robert McNamara and Elon Musk's DOGE initiative.
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
🇺🇸 America has a dangerous habit of putting 🚗 car company executives in charge of important government decisions, with disastrous results for ordinary people. Robert McNamara went from running Ford to directing the Vietnam War 🌍✈️, where he counted success by numbers rather than human lives. Today, Elon Musk leads a White House initiative called DOGE 🐶💰 that has already pushed for the dismissal of over 62,500 federal workers in just two months. These cuts directly affect communities—particularly in border regions 🌐—as environmental monitoring stops 🚫🌱, language services disappear ❌🗣️, and offices close 🏢🔒. While corporate executives focus on short-term savings 🏦💸, Indigenous approaches consider the impact of decisions on future generations 🌱🕰️.
🗝️ Takeaways
🔄 America's dangerous pattern of putting car executives in charge of public welfare connects McNamara's Vietnam metrics to Musk's DOGE agenda
📊 Over 62,500 federal workers have been dismissed in just the first two months of 2025—a staggering 41,311% increase over the same period last year
🌊 Borderlands communities face particular devastation as environmental justice offices are eliminated and monitoring programs are cut
🔒 Security concerns emerged when a DOGE staffer was granted "read/write" access to sensitive Social Security Administration data systems
👥 Indigenous perspectives that prioritize community wellbeing and seven-generation thinking offer crucial alternatives to profit-driven governance
✊ Supporting independent journalism like Three Sonorans helps document the real human impact of "efficiency" measures
From McNamara to Musk: Car Salesmen, Government "Efficiency," and the Ongoing Struggle for Justice
La historia se repite, primero como tragedia, luego como farsa. History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. The old saying rings truer with each passing day in our current reality.
As I sit here in the Borderlands, watching the second Trump administration unfold with all its predictable chaos, I'm struck by the dangerous pattern of placing corporate executives, particularly car company executives, in positions of power over public welfare and the disastrous consequences that follow.
The McNamara Disaster: When Ford Met Vietnam
Before diving into our current predicament, we need to understand the historical parallel. For those too young to remember, Robert McNamara was a Harvard Business School graduate who became president of Ford Motor Company in November 1960—the first person outside the Ford family to lead the company. Just one month later, he was tapped by President-elect John F. Kennedy to serve as Secretary of Defense.
McNamara brought his corporate efficiency mindset to the Department of Defense and subsequently to the Vietnam War. He believed war could be quantified, measured, and managed like an assembly line. His approach to the Vietnam conflict became characterized by:
An obsession with metrics and body counts over human considerations
Reliance on statistical analysis rather than cultural understanding
Belief that technology and firepower could overcome all obstacles
Unwillingness to question fundamental assumptions about American intervention
The result? Nearly 60,000 American deaths, millions of Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian casualties, and a war that dragged on for years after McNamara himself had privately concluded it was unwinnable.
His corporate mentality, focused on efficiency and measurable outcomes, proved catastrophically unsuited to the complex human and cultural dimensions of warfare.
Y nosotros, los pueblos indígenas y chicanos, conocemos bien esta mentalidad colonial. We, indigenous and Chicano peoples, know this colonial mentality well. The same efficiency-focused, resource-extractive mindset that devastated Southeast Asia has been deployed against our communities for centuries.
The Musk Phenomenon: DOGE and the Federal Government Purge
Fast-forward to our present reality. Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO, represents another corporate executive wielding enormous influence over public welfare—this time at the helm of what the administration calls the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), created by Trump via executive order on January 20, 2025.
Qué chiste más amargo. What a bitter joke. It's not even a real department but an advisory body housed in the White House. The man who made electric cars trendy for wealthy suburbanites now has an office in the West Wing and has been empowered to "streamline" our government with the same cold calculation he used to fire Twitter employees en masse.
As a "special government employee"—a designation that conveniently subjects him to less stringent ethics rules and financial disclosures—Musk has overseen a federal workforce massacre that would make even the most ruthless corporate raiders blush. In just the first two months of 2025, his DOGE initiative has pushed for the dismissal of over 62,500 federal workers—a staggering 41,311 percent increase compared to the same period in 2024.
Es el mismo desprecio, ahora con PowerPoints más elegantes y tweets absurdos. It's the same disregard, just with fancier PowerPoints and absurd tweets.
Both men weaponized the language of efficiency to mask what was, at its core, a profound contempt for human dignity. McNamara calculated "acceptable losses" in Vietnam while Musk calculates "acceptable program cuts" that leave vulnerable communities even more exposed. The spreadsheet reigns supreme; the human cost is merely a footnote—or in corporate-speak, an "externality."
Externality. Qué palabra tan conveniente para decir 'gente que sufre pero que no importa en nuestros cálculos.' Externality. What a convenient word for saying 'people who suffer but don't matter in our calculations.'
The Corporate-to-Government Pipeline
What's most disturbing about both these cases is how readily we accept the premise that being successful in the corporate world—especially as car salesmen—qualifies someone to make decisions affecting public welfare. There's a fundamental disconnect here. ¿Desde cuándo vender coches te prepara para decidir el destino de millones? Since when does selling cars prepare you to decide the fate of millions?
You don't see us putting pediatricians in charge of NASCAR, or librarians running hedge funds. So why does America persist in this bizarre belief that expertise in maximizing shareholder value somehow translates to expertise in maximizing human wellbeing?
The conservative mythology holds that government should "run like a business"—efficient, lean, and profit-focused. Donald Trump is managing America as if it were one of his own businesses, but regrettably, it resembles one that he has declared bankruptcy on six times.
Como si el propósito del gobierno fuera generar dividendos en lugar de cuidar a su gente. As if the purpose of government were to generate dividends rather than care for its people.
Corporate executives are trained to:
Maximize shareholder value and profit
Focus on quarterly results
Cut costs wherever possible
Take calculated risks where the downside primarily affects the company
Public welfare requires leaders who:
Prioritize human dignity and well-being
Think in terms of generations, not quarters
Invest in safety nets and protections
Avoid risks where the downside affects vulnerable populations
Pero seguimos poniendo vendedores de coches al timón del barco, y luego nos sorprendemos cuando chocamos contra los iceberg. Yet we keep putting car salesmen at the helm of the ship, then act surprised when we crash into icebergs.
The View from the Borderlands
Here in the Borderlands, we experience the consequences of this corporate mentality with brutal immediacy. DOGE and the General Services Administration have plans to shed up to 25% of the government's 360 million square feet of real estate, including closing Social Security buildings, IRS taxpayer assistance centers, and Bureau of Indian Affairs offices across the country. The knife of budget cuts always seems to find the flesh of those already bleeding.
The EPA has eliminated all offices related to diversity and environmental justice, putting nearly 200 employees out of work across the country. Plans are underway for a 10% cut to the agency's overall workforce, including up to 1,115 people from the Office of Research and Development, which runs labs and research centers across the country.
Para nosotros, esto no es una estadística, es nuestra agua, nuestro aire, nuestra tierra. For us, this isn't a statistic, it's our water, our air, our land. Without environmental monitoring and enforcement, the borderlands will once again become a sacrifice zone for industrial pollution that doesn't respect international boundaries or socioeconomic divides.
I watch elders in our community struggle to find translation services after programs were gutted. I see families panicking over the security of their Social Security benefits after news broke that a 25-year-old DOGE staffer was mistakenly granted "read/write" permission to sensitive payment systems on February 5. A federal judge has since blocked DOGE's access to these systems, but the damage to public trust has been done.
¿Quién protege nuestros datos cuando los "protectores" son los que nos ponen en peligro? Who protects our data when the "protectors" are the ones putting us in danger?
Where corporate thinking focuses on quarterly profits, Indigenous thinking considers the impact of decisions on the seventh generation. Where the corporate world views land and resources—and people—as commodities to be extracted and exploited, Indigenous thinking sees them as relatives deserving of respect and reciprocity.
The Resistance Continues
Despite the return of Trump to the White House and the continued elevation of corporate figures like Musk to positions of public trust, the resistance remains strong and grows more innovative by necessity. From community mutual aid networks stepping in where federal programs have been cut, to cybersecurity experts volunteering to help Social Security recipients, to grassroots language justice initiatives filling the gaps left by gutted translation services, communities are pushing back against the corporate colonization of our public sphere.
No nos rendiremos. Nunca nos hemos rendido. No empezaremos ahora. We will not surrender. We never have. We won't start now.
We've faced colonizers, corporate raiders, and corrupt officials before, and we've outlasted them all. Our ancestors didn't survive centuries of attempted erasure for us to give up because a car salesman with a Twitter account decided our communities weren't cost-effective.
What Can We Do?
So where do we go from here? How do we break this dangerous cycle of placing corporate executives—especially car company executives—in charge of public welfare? How do we protect our communities when the government itself becomes a weapon wielded against us?
Support Indigenous and community-led initiatives that demonstrate alternative models of leadership and decision-making. From tribal consultation practices to consensus-based governance, we have leadership examples that center human dignity rather than spreadsheet cells. Attend community council meetings. Volunteer with tribal governance programs. Learn from those who have been practicing sustainable collective leadership for centuries.
Document and track the real impacts of these cuts on your community. DOGE claims to have saved $55 billion already, but much of that "savings" comes at the cost of essential services to vulnerable communities. When your local Social Security office closes, when environmental testing stops, when translation services disappear—document it. Share these stories widely. Put faces and names to the statistics.
Support legal challenges to DOGE's overreach. A federal judge has already blocked their access to sensitive Treasury and Social Security data. More legal challenges are underway from states, advocacy groups, and unions. Contribute to legal defense funds. Submit testimonials about how these cuts affect you.
Build resilient community networks that don't rely solely on federal services. Create skill-sharing programs where younger community members can help elders navigate online systems. Develop mutual aid networks for food, transportation, and healthcare needs. The more self-sufficient our communities become, the less power they have over us.
Pressure local and state officials to fill gaps where federal services are being cut. Advocate for state-level environmental monitoring, language access services, and consumer protections. Don't let them use federal cuts as an excuse for inaction.
Support independent journalism that investigates corporate-government connections and holds both accountable. When the corporate media celebrates "bold restructuring," we need journalists asking whose lives are being restructured into desperation.
Stay Informed, Stay Engaged
One way to stay informed about these issues from an Indigenous Chicano perspective is to support Three Sonorans. While the mainstream media celebrates Musk's "bold vision" for government efficiency, we're documenting the aftermath in our communities—the security concerns over sensitive personal data, the canceled environmental monitoring, and the families struggling after their breadwinners' positions were deemed "redundant."
Whether through subscriptions, sharing our content, attending our events, or contributing to our coverage, your support helps ensure that these critical perspectives aren't drowned out by corporate media narratives that mistake cruelty for efficiency and coldness for competence.
La resistencia no es un momento; es un movimiento. No es un evento; es una forma de vida. Resistance isn't a moment; it's a movement. It's not an event; it's a way of life.
Juntos, podemos crear un futuro diferente. Together, we can create a different future—one that values people over profit, community over corporations, and genuine public welfare over executive enrichment. We've survived centuries of men who counted our worth in gold, acres, and barrels of oil. We'll survive the men who count our worth in spreadsheet cells, too, and we'll build something better in the ruins of their calculations.
What do you think? Has your community developed innovative responses to DOGE's government "efficiency" measures? What forms of collective care have you seen emerge in the wake of these cuts?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and let's continue this crucial conversation.
En lucha y esperanza,
Three Sonorans
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