Let there be light: The biblical truth driving DOGE’s war on waste

Nothing in the second Trump administration has divided Washington more sharply than the Department of Government Efficiency, headed by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. The frenetic effort has featured foibles, but it has also uncovered shocking wastes of taxpayer dollars — discoveries that may have earned the DOGE more detractors than its faults. Whatever the final results may be, it’s worthwhile for Christians to consider a driving impulse behind the DOGE’s work that is deeply consistent with biblical values.

This is the DOGE’s impulse to push for transparency — or, perhaps more precisely, illumination — about government spending and processes. “In a Fox interview, Musk and his team … shined a greater light on the amount of inefficiency and financial waste that’s propagated by our federal government,” said FRC Action President Jody Hice.

‘Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.’

In that interview, Musk told “Special Report” host Bret Baier, “We want to reduce spending by eliminating waste and fraud and reduce the spending by 15%. … The government is not efficient, and there’s a lot of waste and fraud. So we feel confident that a 15% reduction can be done without affecting any of the critical government services.”

“Most taxpayers would generally agree, I believe, that government transparency is a good thing,” responded Hice, a former U.S. congressman.

This is especially true of the voters who sent fiscal conservatives like him to Washington, D.C., and who were frustrated by the systematized sloth that prevented a few good men from attacking acreage of bureaucratic kudzu with any tool larger than nail clippers.

“We would often just beat our heads against the wall, because we would be so frustrated with the amount of money that the government is spending,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) recalled on “Washington Watch.” And so he welcomed “the fact … that President Trump is allowing and asking Elon Musk and the DOGE team to go through the checkbook of the American taxpayer and find waste, fraud, and abuse.”

“We always knew, instinctively, that the government was spending money irresponsibly — not in places that the American people would ever approve,” stated Stutzman. “We used to … think, ‘Oh, it’s probably, you know, maybe 1%, 2%.’ We’ve all known that there’s probably a lot more than that. And that’s what Elon is finding.” As of April 1, the DOGE website claimed an estimated $140 billion in savings, already more than 2% of U.S. federal government expenditures in fiscal year 2024 ($6.75 trillion).

“God always asks us to be light in this world,” argued Stutzman. “When there [are] problems, you need to shine a light on the problem. And that’s what the DOGE team is doing, shining a light on all of the spending. And we’re seeing where our tax dollars are going, and it’s just appalling.”

The primary way in which the Bible calls Christ-followers to be “the light of the world” is as models of righteous living, so that others “may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

But the application of this principle extends far beyond religious observance or spiritual disciplines. The apostle Paul wrote that “the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true” (Ephesians 5:9). Therefore, he urged believers, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. … When anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible” (Ephesians 5:11, 13). Thus, “illumination” is an apter descriptor than “transparency.”

In other words, Stutzman is right to extend the biblical metaphor of “shining a light” to exposing waste, fraud, and abuse in government.

One further extension of the Bible’s “light” metaphor is appropriate. Jesus taught in John 3 that “people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (John 3:19-21). The most direct application is that wicked people hide their sin, while the righteous repent of their sin and find forgiveness.

But Jesus draws out a truth about human nature that remains true in lesser contexts as well. Wrongdoers often try to conceal their wrongdoing. If this is true, and if there are wrongdoers benefiting from waste, fraud, and abuse in payments of the federal government, then we would expect significant opposition to any attempt to expose that waste, fraud, and abuse. (It does not follow from this that every DOGE critic wrongly benefits from government largesse; there are other legitimate reasons to criticize the department.)

In fact, some of the DOGE’s findings are consistent with a pattern of attempted concealment. One of the DOGE’s first targets was the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was funding bizarre projects like a transgender comic book in Peru.

“It’s easier to hide money away from us overseas than it is to hide it here in the United States,” Stutzman pointed out, and “the fact that President Trump and Elon Musk decided just to shut down USAID shows you how bad it is … there.” On March 28, the U.S. State Department and USAID “notified Congress on their intent to undertake a reorganization that would involve realigning certain USAID functions to the Department by July 1, 2025, and discontinuing the remaining USAID functions that do not align with Administration priorities.”

Nevertheless, some DOGE detractors are “screaming very loudly” about Musk’s outsider team bringing sunshine to the swamp, added Stutzman.

“I told the Democrats … if this is what you’re proud of — if you feel like these are the priorities of the American people — you should not have a problem with DOGE just telling all of us where our tax dollars are going, whether it’s DEI programs in South America, or whether it’s DEI programs in the Middle East, or a ‘Sesame Street’ program for $20 million in Iraq,” Stutzman stipulated. “If those are your priorities, why are you upset that the DOGE team is announcing those on … social media, telling us what they’re finding? I mean, if that’s what you want done with federal tax dollars, then you shouldn’t have a problem with it.”

Here, Jesus’ words echo loudly, “Everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed” (John 3:20).

This article is adapted from an essay that was first published at the Washington Stand.