Qamar Bashir
President Donald J. Trump’s recently issued Executive Order 14171, which has introduced “Schedule F” under the title “Schedule Policy/Career,” marks a profound shift in the character of the American federal bureaucracy.
Framed as a reform to instill accountability and efficiency in the policy-making segments of the federal workforce, the order gives the executive branch broad authority to reclassify and terminate thousands of civil servants whose roles intersect with policy execution. In doing so, it threatens to undermine the very foundations upon which democratic governance is built—foundations that rest not on personal loyalty to a leader, but on impartial adherence to the Constitution, statutory laws, and public service ethics.
The civil service in democratic states exists as a buffer between political power and the machinery of the state. Its independence ensures that government policies, no matter how ambitious or partisan, are implemented within the bounds of legality, fairness, and procedural integrity.
Bureaucrats are not elected; they are appointed based on merit, trained to implement policies in accordance with law, and protected from arbitrary dismissal to shield them from political influence.
Their loyalty is to the Constitution and the people—not to a temporary officeholder or party. Executive Order 14171 challenges this principle by making continued employment conditional on alignment with the President’s political agenda, regardless of whether that agenda aligns with statutory authority or established governance norms.
The most dangerous aspect of this shift is the redefinition of law itself. When bureaucrats are forced to carry out presidential directives even if they contradict existing legal frameworks, the entire concept of a rule-of-law-based state begins to unravel. The law no longer serves as the objective measure of right and wrong. Instead, what is said by the leader becomes the law, while existing statutes and regulations are rendered irrelevant.
The distinction between legal and illegal dissolves, replaced by a simplistic binary: whatever pleases those in power is good, and whatever resists them is bad. In such a system, the bureaucracy becomes a political tool, not a legal institution, and civil servants become enforcers of authority rather than protectors of legality.
This peril is not theoretical. It is a reality I have lived through. During my 35 years of service within Pakistan’s bureaucracy, I watched a once-competent and respected civil service devolve into an obedient arm of political and military power. What was once a guardian of law and public service gradually transformed into a structure designed to protect the interests of those in control—first the politicians, and later the generals.
The consequences have been devastating. Today, Pakistan faces a collapsed economy, declining industry, food insecurity, foreign investment flight, and a shattered law and order system. Bureaucrats no longer serve the people; they serve power. If the United States replicates this model, it risks setting off a slow-burning institutional collapse that may be difficult to reverse.
President Trump, a businessman by profession, appears to be reshaping government in the image of a corporate enterprise. In business, loyalty to leadership, strict hierarchy, and top-down discipline are not just tolerated—they are essential. A CEO expects allegiance. Decisions are centralized. Rules are created and revised as needed to meet the company’s goals—primarily profit. Employees can be hired and fired at will.
This model has allowed companies to thrive, innovate, and achieve remarkable efficiency. However, applying this same model to a country is deeply flawed and potentially catastrophic. A corporation governs hundreds, perhaps thousands, of employees. A country governs hundreds of millions of diverse citizens with varied needs, rights, and expectations. In a business, the ultimate goal is shareholder value. In a democracy, the ultimate goal is justice, equity, and the common good.
When government adopts the logic of a corporation, it begins to treat citizens like stakeholders, laws like internal policies, and dissent like insubordination. But a country is not a boardroom. It is a living, breathing society governed by a social contract enshrined in its Constitution. Here, power is limited, law is supreme, and leaders are accountable not only to voters but to history.
If rules, regulations, and laws can be bent, ignored, or discarded at the whim of a political leader, the result is not efficiency—it is chaos. No nation can function sustainably under the rule of one man’s will, no matter how well-intentioned or charismatic he may be.
What makes this transformation particularly dangerous is that it will not stop with one administration. If allowed to take root, future presidents—Republican or Democrat—will likely embrace this power, using it to shape a civil service that mirrors their ideology. The federal workforce will become a revolving door of loyalists, dismantling institutional memory, undermining policy continuity, and stifling principled dissent. Over time, the bureaucracy will cease to be a source of stability and become a mechanism for perpetual political conflict.
It is important to consider that even if such reforms yield short-term results—faster policy implementation, greater alignment between bureaucracy and elected leadership—the long-term costs may be immense. Accountability without autonomy is a façade. A system that rewards obedience and punishes integrity cannot sustain itself. The moment the civil service ceases to question, to advise, and to challenge, it becomes a tool of tyranny, not a servant of democracy.
Governance, unlike business, is not about speed or profit. It is about balance, justice, and stewardship. The hallmark of a successful democracy is not how efficiently the President can implement his agenda, but how faithfully government institutions can protect the rights and liberties of all citizens—even against the President’s own ambitions.
In this critical moment, the American people, Congress, and judiciary must reaffirm the principle that public service is a sacred trust, not a personal allegiance. Bureaucracy must remain loyal to the law, not the leader. The strength of a republic lies not in the unchecked power of one office, but in the resilience and independence of its institutions.
If we lose sight of this distinction—if we allow government to be “run like a business” at the expense of constitutional order—we may gain speed, but we will lose our soul. And that is a price no democracy can afford to pay.
Qamar Bashir
Press Secretary to the President (Rtd)
Former Press Minister at Embassy of Pakistan to France
Former MD, SRBC
Macomb, Detroit, Michigan
