The bilge is the lowest part of a ship where the bottom curves up to meet the sides. The water that collects there is also called bilge.   Bilge water becomes foul and dirty.  Boats of any size have a bilge pump to remove accumulating bilge water.

We might say the same thing about our government in Washington.  It is like a huge ship, and over the years lots of bilge water has accumulated in our Federal bureaucracy.  We need to crank up the bilge pumps.

Some people refer to it as draining the swamp.

Whatever we wish to call it, the levels of duplication and waste in our Federal establishment beggar description.

This is not meant to disparage Government workers in general.  Many of them are hard-working, dedicated employees doing the very best job they know how.  But there are also  loafers and incompetents, and the general practice is to shift them to areas they can do the least harm rather than fire them.  It is difficult to fire a Federal employee, so deadwood (bilge) accumulates in unhealthy amounts.

In addition to deadwood, the government is bogged down with a plethora of agencies and offices performing more or less the same function, each of them fighting to protect its turf.  That results in more bilge. As Ronald Reagan once said, “The nearest thing to eternal life on this planet is a Federal agency”  

Let’s pump it out.

Note:  Be warned that government bilge has a life of its own.  As you try to pump it out, the moans and screams will be like unto those of the demons and evil spirits that Christ cast out of men possessed.