As I write this, Donald Trump has been in office for 23 days, and I have written at least 23 “My Turn” opinion pieces. However, they have remained in my mind only. Most of them start with thoughts so angry as to be nonproductive.

So with as much calm as I can muster, I will make this brief, I’ll stick to the facts and offer a simple suggestion.

Elon Musk’s now infamous “Department Of Government Efficiency” is not a federal department, as in, say, “the Education Department.” Only Congress can establish federal departments.

And the federal government already has an office of “government efficiency.” In fact, each and every federal department has one. They are called the inspectors general. Trump has fired them all.

But these inspectors general have been producing reports on corruption and inefficiency in government since 1976. (Check out their history: It’s only Republican presidents who have fired them over the years. Go figure). Their reports are submitted to Congress regularly. The fact that most of us have been unaware of their work, and the results of their work, is the problem. The solution is not firing them all and decimating the ranks of civil servants.

But why haven’t we been aware of ongoing efforts to improve government efficiency? There’s the lack of news reporting, but first, it comes down to political gridlock — the familiar scenario where Congress is unable to act due to our two parties’ inability to negotiate any agreement with each other.

What’s the second reason? We are. It turns out that not enough of us like reading reports and paying attention. So Congress knows they don’t have to act on the work of the inspectors general if it is not politically convenient (for either party).

In theory, everyone is for getting rid of corruption and inefficiency; everyone agrees we could run things better. But we don’t like doing the work to get there, and we send politicians to Washington who are unable to work with each other.

So why not hire a billionaire to do it for us?

Because it’s not legal (ask the unions and inspectors general bringing lawsuits). And because Musk and his boss are creating chaos on a scale and with a level of cruelty this country has never seen before. They are currently not accountable to anyone, and make no mistake, this is not about efficiency. (But exploring their motives is another My Turn.)

So. to re-cap: This is not a “department” and it isn’t creating “government efficiency.” As a small step to bringing about its demise, I ask one simple thing: Please, everyone, especially those in the news media, stop calling Elon Musk’s cruel project “DOGE.”

Every time you say this made-up word for an illegal operation you are stroking the man’s ego (and of course the limitless ego of his boss). You are offering a popular legitimacy to their actions, actions which will actually have the effect of dismantling the functioning of our government.

Instead, call it something like Musk’s “Free Up” project. Those initials say it all.

And I know it’s hard, but pay attention. Being informed and calling things what they are is a good first step to active citizenship.

Susanae Glovacki lives in Greenfield.