Left's attack on Moore, Cain, other Trump picks won't help government talent shortage

The recent Democrat-led opposition to Stephen Moore’s potential nomination to the Fed Board is proof the Left has reached peak Trump Derangement Syndrome. It is the same madness that led Herman Cain to withdraw his name from consideration. If unchecked, it could scare the next generation of talented people away from public service.

It’s not enough to sabotage President Trump. The radical progressive wing of the Democratic Party believes that anyone who dares enter the realm of public service while Donald Trump is in office is somehow “complicit,” or “guilty by association” for a crime yet to be discovered.

After eight years of accusing Republicans of being the obstructionist party, Democrats want the machine of government to grind to a halt until they can regain power. They don’t like the players, so they are quitting the game, taking their ball, and going home.

Of 717 executive branch nominations requiring Senate confirmation, only 433 have been confirmed. More than 16 percent of the federal judiciary remains vacant, the highest level of empty federal benches in almost 30 years.

Their resistance strategy is simple: delay, and if you can’t delay, destroy.

When they can’t fight confirmations fair and square, the Democratic political machine latches onto nominees like a heat-seeking missile and attempts to mire them (and their families) in controversy until they give up and go home. No accusation is too low, and no bystander is spared.

Now Stephen Moore, one of the finest minds and biggest change-makers in the field of economics, finds himself in the hot seat. Moore is the most qualified and skilled Fed Board candidate in years.

He is a former member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, a senior economist on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, and he assisted two presidential administrations with economic research and advice. He studied economics at George Mason University when free-market economist James M. Buchanan won the Nobel Prize for public choice theory.

Moore spent a career advocating for the taxpayer in the nonprofit sector and spreading the ideas of free-markets and fiscal responsibility. His economic track record is proven, and consistent. He is a vocal critic of the Fed and would provide a much-needed contrarian viewpoint to the Fed Board. Anyone who believes that diversity of ideas and transparency are a good thing in Washington, D.C. should support the confirmation of Stephen Moore to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

Yet, Democrats hate him. And they don’t just hate him. Democratic strategists launched a calculated attack to ruin his reputation. They dragged his ex-wife and children into the media spotlight to exploit the alleged details of a private divorce, along with their household tax returns.

In doing this repeatedly, with every Trump nominee, they are scaring the next generation of talent away from public service. Serving in government was already a thankless job. Now, people must be willing to sacrifice their good name, their privacy, their family’s privacy, and in some cases, their personal safety.

What person, in their right mind, would sign up for the scrutiny and toxicity that comes with a career in public service these days? It’s much easier to simply cash out in the private sector instead.

Thomas Sowell once argued that the government has a shortage of talent because we don’t pay people enough in the public sector. The best and brightest are working in the private sector, because that’s where the money is.

He wrote, “Any successful engineer, surgeon, or financier would have to take a big pay cut to serve in Congress. A top student from a top law school can get a starting salary that is more than we pay a Supreme Court justice. No doubt many, if not most, government officials are already paid more than they are worth. But the whole point of higher pay is to get better people to replace them.”

Working in the private sector used to have the money, but not the prestige. Working in the public sector used to have the prestige, but not the money. Now, thanks to the radical wing of the Democratic Party, a career in Washington may offer nothing but punishment.

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Like all the other Trump nominees who have been relentlessly attacked and smeared by Democrats, Stephen Moore is guilty of nothing except wanting to serve his country during the Trump years. If Democrats don’t stop chasing the best and brightest people out of the room, the unintended consequences will be catastrophic for our children and grandchildren.

Adam Brandon is president of FreedomWorks, a nationwide grassroots organization dedicated to lower taxes, smaller government, individual liberty and the American rule of law.