Ward Clark writes for RedState.com about a rare case in which a state government leader is adopting a good idea from federal counterparts.

There’s an old military saying about a certain material, which was often found on parade grounds back in the days of horse-mounted troops, and how it tends to roll downhill. That’s a metaphor, of course, for how pressure on senior officers tends to flow downwards to junior officers, to NCOs, and eventually to the E-4 Mafia and the private soldiers. But in the military as well as in government, sometimes good ideas roll downhill, too.

As an example, we have a very good idea, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) being set up by the incoming Trump administration. Now, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has announced in her State of the State address the formation of a state-level DOGE to root out wasteful government spending in the Hawkeye State. …

… I guess good ideas can grow wings.

As I’ve been saying for many years, and as I think anyone who pays attention to these things would agree, it is the nature of government to grow ever larger, more intrusive, and more expensive. The evidence of the last four years may well prompt us to add “more corrupt” to that listing, as well. But with the impending premiere of “Trump II, Rise of the Dark MAGA,” and his tagging in Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to take a bite (hopefully, several large bites) out of federal spending, there seems to be a renewed emphasis on identifying and eliminating wasteful spending.

Governments at all levels waste money. It’s a big part of what they do. There are no incentives for the government to be efficient, or at least, there weren’t until the DOGE. Indeed, the incentives all run in the opposite direction. There’s no accountability, except that in the cases of elected officials, they must answer to their voters. But too many politicians deal with this by playing Santa Claus and promising a never-ending gravy train of free stuff. They are rewarded for their profligacy with reelection.

That may be changing now; the new emphasis on rooting out wasteful government spending may spread beyond Washington.