"Those Were the Days"

DOGE Style

Circa 1968, a song performed by Mary Hopkin made the charts (#2 in the U.S., #1 in the UK): “Those Were the Days.” Produced by Paul McCartney, reputedly the tune was based on a Russian folk song (ironic that, as we’ll see).

To this then young lad, the song was poignant, for its release date (August 26, 1968) came on the heels of the Soviet Socialist regime’s invasion Czechoslovakia to snuff out a budding attempt at liberation (the “Prague Spring”) from the “Iron Curtain” of Socialist domination (that invasion having occurred on August 20-21, 1968).

At the time I was not aware of the song’s Russian origins, but the Eastern European vibe of it caused me to imagine in my mind young Czechoslovaks – post-invasion – reminiscing about how they nearly achieved freedom, and the feeling of pride and optimism for the future that they experienced for oh-so-short a time.

Thoughts of Hungary and its 1956 uprising against Socialist domination – likewise crushed by the Soviet Socialists – could not but help come to mind. Poland and Solidarity and John Paul II and President Reagan, at that point, resided in a future unknowable.

So too, were Rush Limbaugh and his (Paul Shanklin) song parodies. In a different context, this Substack in the past invoked a revision of Cat Stevens’ “Peace Train.”

“Those Were the Days” has come back into my mind, but more in the spirit of Rush. This time in the context of DOGE and its contribution to liberating us from the oppressive federal leviathan, and this time the song through the eyes of the federal bureaucrats who, en masse, are being repurposed into future, gainful and productive employment.*

So, with that, may I present to you the lyrics to “Those Were the Days” – DOGE style:

*[footnote] While the crying and lamentations of federal employees appearing on TikTok (etc.) can be entertaining, at the same time we should recognize that within the federal workforce there (presumably) was a bell-curve. From folks who came in just intending to make and honest living and, to the extent became unproductive, did so because that was the prevailing expectation, one which they would have been helpless to change.

To folks, e.g., with grievance studies degrees or other kinds of “DEI hires,” who gravitated toward the federal bureaucracy because it, unlike the private sector, was compatible with their skill set, worldview and/or capabilities.

And, finally, to what were recently called “social justice warriors” and/or were dedicated Marxist operatives who sought to “fundamentally transform” (subvert) our country from within. The ranks of federal employees hired and/or promoted after B. Hussein Obama became President (including through his third term, a/k/a “the Biden Administration) are disproportionately comprised of this type.

While for any individual job loss is a personal tragedy, and we should not gloat about that, for the “social justice warriors” and above on the “Obama scale,” we should very much take delight in the fact that DOGE is dispensing some real “social justice” by dispensing with their employment.

As for the other federal employees yes, in a sense, some of them are “collateral damage.” BUT, while that is unfortunate, it is no more unfortunate than the fate experienced by tens of millions of Americans in recent decades who lost their jobs because of federal policy promoting globalism and the deindustrialization of America and the financialization of our economy.

To MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, it is absolutely necessary for the D.C. Beltway to become the “new Rustbelt,” and for “flyover country” to enjoy a renaissance of jobs and overall economic opportunity and prosperity.

We had that once. Those Were the Days! And we can have them again!