Let’s tone down panic over Tillerson’s cuts
epicenter of the obstructionist deep state.
The Democratic Party seems particularly disturbed by Tillerson’s shakeup of the State Department, which is hardly surprising given that department members are predominantly Democrats.
Last month, the Democrats on the House Foreign Relations Committee wrote Tillerson a letter noting a 60 percent reduction in the number of career ambassadors and a 42 percent decrease in career ministers.
While career diplomats can indeed leverage an invaluable wealth of experience to tackle complex challenges, it’s only of value if they aren’t running around undermining the agenda of the president, fancying themselves some kind of underground resistance as they carry out official duties.
How many of the career diplomats who were dismissed were fully committed to carrying out Trump’s vision, regardless of their own? If Tillerson observed that sort of disconnect, nothing prevents him from filling the ranks of ambassadors with outside appointees. There’s no shortage of businesspeople with international experience (in the mold of Tillerson himself ) who haven’t spent a lifetime doing the backstroke in the swamp. Such people may have a less ideological and more pragmatic view of current challenges.
“With the range of crises, war and humanitarian disaster around the world, slashing our diplomatic corps is downright dangerous,” House Democrats wrote in their letter to Tillerson.
Here we go again with the fear-mongering. Are we really supposed to believe all that’s standing between order and chaos everywhere in the world are a bunch of Washington civil servants?
In fact, it would seem that the world has calmed down significantly since Tillerson began downsizing the State Department. The Islamic State is nearly wiped out. Conflict in the Middle East is being addressed by countries that are located in or near the region. If the current pace keeps up, the State Department may be reduced to meeting in a phone booth, but the world might just be better off.