I'm not sure I understand how it follows that "meritocracy" = "asskissers." By definition, a meritocracy focuses on the "better resumes," does it not?The irony of a "return to meritocracy" is it means a return to this style of Army being common. Tons of dudes who are asskissers will get jobs over dudes who've got better resumes.
If only we've had recent decades of history showing how bad that works out.
I'm not a fan of blanket policies; one size of policy does not fit all. However, I'm supportive of "take your ass to work" generally. There is already so much waste inherent in government work, and IMO a lot of times "work from home" translates to "home, but not working."It's the whole point. Musk thinks People will resign, which will say money.
Like you said, it's a great soundbite if you don't look at the numbers. You could have half of the federal workforce quit and you'd only save 2% of the budget.
There are, of course, innumerable counter-examples. But a whole lot of folks who were at work before COVID went home during COVID and never came back. Time for that to change.