What did you accomplish this week?

This basic question from Elon Musk to the federal workforce — a question routinely asked and answered in the private sector — set off waves of sputtering outrage as the effort to reduce a bloated, unaccountable government rolls on.

Disruption always strikes hair-raising fear in the complacent.

For people who believe a government job, or a government grant to a nonprofit, is an entitlement, and accountability is a four-letter word, some guy demanding you answer for yourself, and your salary is viewed as an assault on basic personal decency.

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And so, it was an email from the Department of Government Efficiency that got more action and energy from the dusty, musty federal bureaucracy than we’ve seen in years. Many answered because they likely had far more than five things to share and were pleased somebody finally asked.

Others cried havoc, believing they do not ultimately report to the president (or anybody else), Article II of the Constitution notwithstanding.

There is a method to what many are considering Musk’s madness. 

First, DOGE has forced a focus, and a national conversation, on the size, scope and activities of the federal government that has grown well beyond what was contemplated even 50 years ago, let alone at the nation’s founding. It is long overdue.

Citizens are beginning to pay attention to what they value about the necessary core functions of the federal government, such as controlling the borders, national defense and, for many in the western U.S., protecting public lands. They can, and must, push their elected officials to right-size programs as they downsize the federal behemoth. 

This means there will be some course corrections. Congress and the courts will have their say.

But Musk’s mission must grind on. 

This is not, as we read in progressive talking points, about eliminating government or installing an oligarchy. It is about overhauling the activities — and the cost — of government so an environment can be created where the private-sector economy can thrive, create great jobs and innovate while maintaining the necessary minimum level of regulation.

That quaint notion was once the central idea in creating a vibrant American economy.

Yet, the outrage regarding the reality the government must spend less and focus on its core functions is also churning at the Colorado Capitol. 

Overspending and the elimination of COVID-era federal subsidies, among other factors, have the state facing a $1 billion shortfall within the governor’s proposed $46 billion budget. That is, in broad numbers, about 2%.

Tax spenders at the Capitol immediately grabbed their usual talking points, crowing closing this 2% gap would cause irreparable harm across the state, eagerly ignoring the fact revenues continue to hit record highs.  

But what if the spending caucus is right Colorado government is operating at maximum efficiency and closing this 2% budget gap with cuts would do deep and lasting damage across the state? 

Prove it.  

Create a Colorado Office of Revenue Efficiency (CORE), overseen by just two of the many successful entrepreneurs who call our state home — one liberal, one conservative — and dig into the books. Show in detail exactly what every department, office and commission in Colorado does, what they spend and how many people they employ. Put it all online. 

This, of course, would open the door to exactly what was anticipated in the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR) in our state constitution. Those who believe a tax increase is warranted must build a compelling case and ask voters’ permission before taking more of their hard-earned money. 

And the CORE process would be fundamental to that argument. 

But progressives will never do this, knowing that, as Joint Budget Committee member Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer has pointed out, they have enacted hundreds of new laws with huge price tags, and expanded the state workforce by 5,000 or more. 

Toward what benefit for average Coloradans is unclear. That’s why Colorado voters, in large numbers across the political spectrum, won’t buy the phony rhetoric that state government is starving for more of your money.  

Taxpayers are asking questions. Tax spenders had best find some candid answers. 

Sean Duffy, a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Bill Owens and longtime communications and media relations strategist, is senior vice president, communications at the Daniels Fund in Denver. The views he expresses are his own.