Donald J. Devine
Donald J. Devine (born 1937) is an American political scientist, author, former government official and politician who has studied, written and promoted the philosophy of conservative fusionism as taught to him by the U.S. philosopher Frank Meyer.
The Washington Post labeled Donald Devine as Ronald Reagan's "terrible swift sword of the civil service" when he served as Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management during President Reagan's first term, The New York Times called him "the Grinch," and the Federal Times titled him the "Rasputin of the reduction in force – all because he helped cut 100,000 bureaucratic jobs and save over $6 billion reducing generous benefits.
[3] An interviewer commented upon Devine's mix of academics and politics this way: "You served President Ronald Reagan in a way that saved billions for us taxpayers while reinforcing the better federal employees.
Yet you come out of the University and, while respecting theory, wrote a semi-memoir that is so full of political reality as to scramble the pro-business notions of the right and the pro-bureaucracy tendencies of the left.
During this period, he was identified with the empirical democracy school and earned a National Science Foundation and several University of Maryland research awards for methodological pursuits and was a popular lecturer among students, who were frustrated for not being able to guess his philosophical orientation until the final course session.
His writing in the period emphasized relating major political philosophy themes to empirical aspects of American society and government.
Professor Arend Liphart called the book "an excellent example of a fresh look at one of the most basic questions in the empirical study of democracy, the relationship between popular demands and outputs.
In this position he served as chief executive officer and principal policy-maker for the United States civil service: setting personnel policies for 2 million civilian government employees and managing a budget authority of $30 billion.
He sought re-appointment but withdrew his nomination in the face of political and bureaucratic opposition and testimony from his former deputy that he requested her to lie to Congress about the nature of his consultant appointment while awaiting reconfirmation.
"[19] He was supported by the Wall Street Journal [20] and the Washington Times which said he "succeeded astonishingly well" in his four years,[21] but with unified Democratic Senate opposition to his re-appointment and two Republicans with large public employee constituencies claiming he exceeded his authority, he was forced to withdraw his nomination.
His speech to the American Society for Public Administration at the beginning of his term supposedly led to the largest number of requests for transcripts in the history of the organization.
Sen. Dole recommended it as the way to understand his desire to return powers to the states and the people, to "increase citizen responsibility and take back control of lives and communities.
In 2000, he was appointed professor of political science at Bellevue University where he served for a decade teaching in the classroom and on line, reforming its Western civilization curriculum, and writing.
[36] In 2011 Devine became Senior Scholar at The Fund for American Studies teaching its seminar on the U.S. Constitution to Washington DC interns and introducing a new generation to fusionist philosophy.
In 2023, Devine co-authored the chapter on governmental personnel agencies in the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 book, Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.
"[40] Devine is attributed by one analyst with summarizing fusionism's doctrine in one phrase as "utilizing libertarian means in a conservative society for traditionalist ends.
[42] and his latest America's Way Back [43] are inspired by Meyer's vision and provide an extended consideration and analysis of this brand of fusionist conservatism.
[49] America's Way Back begins with the disturbing judgment from the nation's leading public administration expert that American government can no longer faithfully execute its laws.
This lack of understanding has produced a profound unease with how government works and explains why society has not responded positively to the changes, provoking a widespread demand for an alternative.
Paleoconservative Samuel Francis argued that Devine's fusionism was an unsuccessful attempt to absorb an indivisible traditionalism into pluralist libertarianism.
