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Peter H. Schuck and Philip K. Howard
USA Today
Our national political parties, of course, have starkly different visions of what government should do. But they can surely agree that whatever government does must be done better. This requires long-overdue rebooting of government programs. They can start by targeting two kinds of perverse legacies: programs that are simply payoffs to narrow special interests and bureaucratic rigidities that hobble effective administration of worthy programs.
Our national political parties, of course, have starkly different visions of what government should do. But they can surely agree that whatever government does must be done better. This requires long-overdue rebooting of government programs. They can start by targeting two kinds of perverse legacies: programs that are simply payoffs to narrow special interests and bureaucratic rigidities that hobble effective administration of worthy programs.
Philip K. Howard
Yale Law Journal
The Progressive Movement succeeded in replacing laissez-faire with public oversight of safety and markets. But its vision of neutral administration, in which officials in lab coats mechanically applied law, never reflected the realities and political tradeoffs in most public choices. The crisis of public trust in the 1960s spawned a radical transformation of government operating systems to finally achieve a neutral public administration, without official bias or error. Laws and regulations would not only set public goals but also dictate precisely how to implement them. The constitutional protections of due process were expanded to allow disappointed citizens, employees, and students to challenge official decisions, even managerial choices, and put officials to the proof. The result, after fifty years, is public paralysis. In an effort to avoid bad public choices, the operating system precludes good public choices. It must be rebuilt to honor human agency and reinvigorate democratic choices.
The Progressive Movement succeeded in replacing laissez-faire with public oversight of safety and markets. But its vision of neutral administration, in which officials in lab coats mechanically applied law, never reflected the realities and political tradeoffs in most public choices. The crisis of public trust in the 1960s spawned a radical transformation of government operating systems to finally achieve a neutral public administration, without official bias or error. Laws and regulations would not only set public goals but also dictate precisely how to implement them. The constitutional protections of due process were expanded to allow disappointed citizens, employees, and students to challenge official decisions, even managerial choices, and put officials to the proof. The result, after fifty years, is public paralysis. In an effort to avoid bad public choices, the operating system precludes good public choices. It must be rebuilt to honor human agency and reinvigorate democratic choices.
Philip K. Howard
The Hill
The enemy is not each other, as President-elect Biden continually said. The enemy is the Washington status quo — a ruinously expensive and paralytic bureaucratic quicksand. Change is in the air. But the politics are impossible. That’s why one of first acts of President Biden should be to appoint spring cleaning commissions to propose new frameworks that will liberate Americans at all levels of responsibility to roll up their sleeves and make America work again.
The enemy is not each other, as President-elect Biden continually said. The enemy is the Washington status quo — a ruinously expensive and paralytic bureaucratic quicksand. Change is in the air. But the politics are impossible. That’s why one of first acts of President Biden should be to appoint spring cleaning commissions to propose new frameworks that will liberate Americans at all levels of responsibility to roll up their sleeves and make America work again.
Philip K. Howard
The Hill
The cure to public paralysis is to replace the bureaucratic blob with simpler framework, more like the Constitution, that reempowers officials and citizens alike to get things done. The Framers intended to create a republic where officials would act on their best judgment, not an inhuman machine where public decisions are preset in millions of words of rigid dictates and one-size-fits-all.
The cure to public paralysis is to replace the bureaucratic blob with simpler framework, more like the Constitution, that reempowers officials and citizens alike to get things done. The Framers intended to create a republic where officials would act on their best judgment, not an inhuman machine where public decisions are preset in millions of words of rigid dictates and one-size-fits-all.
Editorial
Florida Times-Union
Common Good doesn’t want to eliminate government but make it work sensibly, cleaning out waste, inefficiency and obsolete programs. Chair Philip Howard calls this “re-regulation” with common sense replacing red tape. One of the first reforms from Common Good is to call for spring cleaning commissions to make government work more efficiently for the people. For instance, one report revealed 5,000 rules for a family-owned apple orchard.
Common Good doesn't want to eliminate government but make it work sensibly, cleaning out waste, inefficiency and obsolete programs. Chair Philip Howard calls this "re-regulation" with common sense replacing red tape. One of the first reforms from Common Good is to call for spring cleaning commissions to make government work more efficiently for the people. For instance, one report revealed 5,000 rules for a family-owned apple orchard.
Donald F. Kettl and Philip K. Howard
Newsweek
Democrats today seem to think that making government work better is somehow inconsistent with a progressive agenda. In fact, however, the Democrats’ activist agenda may not be credible unless it is packaged with a practical vision to make government work better. As they painfully discovered with the failed launch of the Obamacare website, the activist agenda isn’t even possible unless it can deliver.
Democrats today seem to think that making government work better is somehow inconsistent with a progressive agenda. In fact, however, the Democrats' activist agenda may not be credible unless it is packaged with a practical vision to make government work better. As they painfully discovered with the failed launch of the Obamacare website, the activist agenda isn't even possible unless it can deliver.
Philip K. Howard
Education Next
The stranglehold by central bureaucrats and union officials over how schools work is why they fail so badly. Public schools are a giant assembly line of rigid work rules, legal entitlements, course plans, metrics, granular documentation, and legal proceedings for almost any disagreement, including classroom discipline and comments in a personnel file. Day after day, teachers and principals grind through the dictates of this legal assembly line. There’s little room for innovation or creativity, and not even the authority to maintain order. The only certainty is no accountability. No matter how much or how little someone tries, no matter how badly a school performs, there will be no effective accountability.
The stranglehold by central bureaucrats and union officials over how schools work is why they fail so badly. Public schools are a giant assembly line of rigid work rules, legal entitlements, course plans, metrics, granular documentation, and legal proceedings for almost any disagreement, including classroom discipline and comments in a personnel file. Day after day, teachers and principals grind through the dictates of this legal assembly line. There’s little room for innovation or creativity, and not even the authority to maintain order. The only certainty is no accountability. No matter how much or how little someone tries, no matter how badly a school performs, there will be no effective accountability.
Philip K. Howard
USA Today
Extremism usually comes from a sense of powerlessness. People who are frustrated by the inability to solve problems eventually resort to radical demands. … Powerlessness corrupts. Overcoming the broad sense of disempowerment holds the key to a new governing vision. Americans need to feel that government can make things better. We also need to believe that we too can make a difference.
Extremism usually comes from a sense of powerlessness. People who are frustrated by the inability to solve problems eventually resort to radical demands. ... Powerlessness corrupts. Overcoming the broad sense of disempowerment holds the key to a new governing vision. Americans need to feel that government can make things better. We also need to believe that we too can make a difference.
Philip K. Howard
The Hill
Trust in the new rules is essential for Americans to brave the risks and to adhere to the guidelines. A new pandemic social contract is needed that reassures Americans they will not be left to fend for themselves if they get sick. Because the overhang of potential risk to individuals and liability to employers could significantly impact the national economy, this new social contract should be made as matter of federal law.
Trust in the new rules is essential for Americans to brave the risks and to adhere to the guidelines. A new pandemic social contract is needed that reassures Americans they will not be left to fend for themselves if they get sick. Because the overhang of potential risk to individuals and liability to employers could significantly impact the national economy, this new social contract should be made as matter of federal law.
Grant Addison
Washington Examiner
And, I think if you look, a lot of the things, reforms that changed through history, you’ll find people who created a kind of a new vision that people found attractive, and that powered it. That’s the idea here. And it could turn into many different things, but mainly, the idea is to have people think about how government should work, and how schools should work and such, in a different way. We empower people. Let people wake up in the morning, think that they can make a difference because of the way they do things, because of their ideas and their hard work. That’s really what America’s about.
And, I think if you look, a lot of the things, reforms that changed through history, you'll find people who created a kind of a new vision that people found attractive, and that powered it. That's the idea here. And it could turn into many different things, but mainly, the idea is to have people think about how government should work, and how schools should work and such, in a different way. We empower people. Let people wake up in the morning, think that they can make a difference because of the way they do things, because of their ideas and their hard work. That's really what America's about.
Philip K. Howard
Washington Examiner
Rebuilding America’s decrepit infrastructure would be a fabulous way to come out of the COVID shutdown — a million or more jobs, most of which are outdoors. How do we do that? What’s missing is a coherent authority structure to make needed choices. This requires action by Congress to create a workable permitting framework and to provide for funding. The Trump administration acts by executive order because, early on, it concluded that dealing with Congress is hopeless. But COVID is different, and Congress has demonstrated an ability to act.
Rebuilding America’s decrepit infrastructure would be a fabulous way to come out of the COVID shutdown — a million or more jobs, most of which are outdoors. How do we do that? What’s missing is a coherent authority structure to make needed choices. This requires action by Congress to create a workable permitting framework and to provide for funding. The Trump administration acts by executive order because, early on, it concluded that dealing with Congress is hopeless. But COVID is different, and Congress has demonstrated an ability to act.
Philip K. Howard
USA Today
Democracy is supposed to be a mechanism for public accountability, but democracy can’t function if the links in the chain are broken. We elect governors and mayors, but they have no effective control over police, schools or other public institutions. The organizational flaw here boils down to confusion between liberty and responsibility. Police and other public employees have an affirmative responsibility to serve the public effectively. They must be accountable not by the standards of a criminal trial, but for meeting a much higher standard of public stewardship. It is the job of supervisors to make these judgments.
Democracy is supposed to be a mechanism for public accountability, but democracy can’t function if the links in the chain are broken. We elect governors and mayors, but they have no effective control over police, schools or other public institutions. The organizational flaw here boils down to confusion between liberty and responsibility. Police and other public employees have an affirmative responsibility to serve the public effectively. They must be accountable not by the standards of a criminal trial, but for meeting a much higher standard of public stewardship. It is the job of supervisors to make these judgments.
Philip K. Howard
City Journal
A functioning democracy requires the bureaucratic machine to return to officials and citizens the authority needed to do their jobs. That necessitates a governing framework of goals and principles that re-empowers Americans to take responsibility for results. Giving officials, judges, and others the authority to act in accord with reasonable norms is what liberates everyone else to act sensibly. Students won’t learn unless the teacher maintains order in the classroom. New ideas by a teacher or parent go nowhere if the principal lacks the authority to act on them. To get a permit in timely fashion, the permitting official must have authority to decide how much review is needed. To enforce codes of civil discourse—and not allow a small group of students to bully everyone else—university administrators must have authority to sanction students who refuse to abide by the codes. To prevent judicial claims from becoming weapons of extortion, judges must have authority to determine their reasonableness. To contain a virulent virus, public-health officials must have authority to respond quickly.
A functioning democracy requires the bureaucratic machine to return to officials and citizens the authority needed to do their jobs. That necessitates a governing framework of goals and principles that re-empowers Americans to take responsibility for results. Giving officials, judges, and others the authority to act in accord with reasonable norms is what liberates everyone else to act sensibly. Students won’t learn unless the teacher maintains order in the classroom. New ideas by a teacher or parent go nowhere if the principal lacks the authority to act on them. To get a permit in timely fashion, the permitting official must have authority to decide how much review is needed. To enforce codes of civil discourse—and not allow a small group of students to bully everyone else—university administrators must have authority to sanction students who refuse to abide by the codes. To prevent judicial claims from becoming weapons of extortion, judges must have authority to determine their reasonableness. To contain a virulent virus, public-health officials must have authority to respond quickly.
Philip K. Howard
USA Today
Government needs to become disciplined again, just as in wartime. It must be adaptable, and encourage private initiative without unnecessary frictions. Dense codes should be replaced with simpler goal-oriented frameworks, as Cuomo has done. Red tape should be replaced with accountability. Excess baggage should be tossed overboard. We’re in a storm, and can’t get out while wallowing under the heavy weight of legacy practices and special privileges.
Government needs to become disciplined again, just as in wartime. It must be adaptable, and encourage private initiative without unnecessary frictions. Dense codes should be replaced with simpler goal-oriented frameworks, as Cuomo has done. Red tape should be replaced with accountability. Excess baggage should be tossed overboard. We’re in a storm, and can’t get out while wallowing under the heavy weight of legacy practices and special privileges.
Philip K. Howard
The Hill
To achieve public trust, an independent recovery commission need not have power. Its moral authority will stem, in part, from the fact that it is not dictatorial. What it can do is provide sober, nonpartisan recommendations that acknowledge the tradeoffs and explain why a certain course seems best. The president and Congress can act as they see fit, but departing from the recovery commission’s recommendations will carry political peril. Accepting its recommendations will take the partisan edge off the decision, and enhance public trust in the course chosen.
To achieve public trust, an independent recovery commission need not have power. Its moral authority will stem, in part, from the fact that it is not dictatorial. What it can do is provide sober, nonpartisan recommendations that acknowledge the tradeoffs and explain why a certain course seems best. The president and Congress can act as they see fit, but departing from the recovery commission’s recommendations will carry political peril. Accepting its recommendations will take the partisan edge off the decision, and enhance public trust in the course chosen.
Philip K. Howard
City Journal
We need an immediate intervention to break America free from its bureaucratic addiction. It must be done if the nation is to come back whole in any reasonable time frame. The first step is for Congress to authorize a temporary Recovery Authority with the mandate to expedite private and public initiatives, including the waiver of rules and procedures that impede public goals. States, too, should set up recovery authorities to expedite permitting and waive costly reporting requirements.
We need an immediate intervention to break America free from its bureaucratic addiction. It must be done if the nation is to come back whole in any reasonable time frame. The first step is for Congress to authorize a temporary Recovery Authority with the mandate to expedite private and public initiatives, including the waiver of rules and procedures that impede public goals. States, too, should set up recovery authorities to expedite permitting and waive costly reporting requirements.
Philip K. Howard
USA Today
Once the crisis is under control, the same kind of energy and resourcefulness will be needed to get America’s schools, businesses, government agencies and nonprofits up and running again. What’s needed is a temporary Recovery Authority with a broad mandate to identify and waive unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles to recovery. The public will benefit not only with faster recovery, but also by treating the new approaches as pilot projects for more effective governance.
Once the crisis is under control, the same kind of energy and resourcefulness will be needed to get America’s schools, businesses, government agencies and nonprofits up and running again. What’s needed is a temporary Recovery Authority with a broad mandate to identify and waive unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles to recovery. The public will benefit not only with faster recovery, but also by treating the new approaches as pilot projects for more effective governance.
Philip K. Howard
Newsweek
The bold idea, available to both parties, is system overhaul: Streamline government so it can achieve its goals, not abandon its goals. Conventional wisdom is the opposite—to take pruning shears into the jungle and clean up a specific area. But history shows that meaningful reforms happen in a surge, not incrementally—think the 1960s, the 1930s, and the Progressive era. Political scientists call it “punctuated equilibrium.” Pressures build until, all at once, the system breaks and new ideas rush in.
The bold idea, available to both parties, is system overhaul: Streamline government so it can achieve its goals, not abandon its goals. Conventional wisdom is the opposite—to take pruning shears into the jungle and clean up a specific area. But history shows that meaningful reforms happen in a surge, not incrementally—think the 1960s, the 1930s, and the Progressive era. Political scientists call it "punctuated equilibrium." Pressures build until, all at once, the system breaks and new ideas rush in.
Philip K. Howard
George Mason Law School
I focus in this paper on accountability, which I believe is the lynchpin to overall reform of the civil service system. Giving public officials more responsibility, for example, is essential to attracting energetic and qualified candidates. Affording officials more flexibility also allows them to make common sense tradeoffs when confronting real-world situations, and thereby help relieve the frustrations Americans feel when stymied by bureaucratic rigidities. But few people will support giving officials more responsibility unless they are accountable if they misuse the authority.
Philip K. Howard
The Hill
Reformers have confused cause and effect: Paralyzed government, not polarization, is the original sin of modern government. Bureaucratic densification since the 1970s has made government beyond human control. Government’s inability to respond to public needs is the chicken that laid the egg of polarized politics. The inability of Americans to roll up their sleeves and fix things leads inexorably to extremism. Political leaders who can’t get things done compete instead by pointing fingers and screaming louder.
Reformers have confused cause and effect: Paralyzed government, not polarization, is the original sin of modern government. Bureaucratic densification since the 1970s has made government beyond human control. Government’s inability to respond to public needs is the chicken that laid the egg of polarized politics. The inability of Americans to roll up their sleeves and fix things leads inexorably to extremism. Political leaders who can’t get things done compete instead by pointing fingers and screaming louder.
Philip K. Howard
American Infrastructure
Infrastructure is the backbone of an economy. National competitiveness and a sustainable environment require it to be kept up to date. It is no secret that America’s road, rail, water, and power infrastructure systems are woefully out of date. Political leaders say they are committed to fixing it. But nothing happens. Many projects are no-brainers—not building new rail tunnels under the Hudson River, for example, could result in paralyzing gridlock for 20 percent of the national economy. But even obvious projects are bogged down in red tape in Washington. Any suggestion by leaders of one party will be reflexively opposed by leaders of the other party. There’s no clear sense of what should get rebuilt, and no political imperative to rationalize the permitting and procurement red tape so that projects can get built in a reasonable timeframe and budget.
Infrastructure is the backbone of an economy. National competitiveness and a sustainable environment require it to be kept up to date. It is no secret that America’s road, rail, water, and power infrastructure systems are woefully out of date. Political leaders say they are committed to fixing it. But nothing happens. Many projects are no-brainers—not building new rail tunnels under the Hudson River, for example, could result in paralyzing gridlock for 20 percent of the national economy. But even obvious projects are bogged down in red tape in Washington. Any suggestion by leaders of one party will be reflexively opposed by leaders of the other party. There’s no clear sense of what should get rebuilt, and no political imperative to rationalize the permitting and procurement red tape so that projects can get built in a reasonable timeframe and budget.
Philip K. Howard
Regulatory Review
Here we are: Americans agree that government is broken, just as Paul Volcker and others see that the civil service system is broken. I think the two are inextricably linked. It is not possible to fix government without remaking public service, and vice-versa. What is missing in both is a framework that honors human responsibility. Making practical choices in government, as in any life activity, requires that people be free to roll up their sleeves and make sense of the situation before them. Similarly, attracting good people to government is impossible unless they can make a difference. No one who is any good wants to be a paper-pusher. The decline of human agency is the common thread of broken government and broken civil service. Not much in life or in government will work sensibly when no human is free to make it work.
Here we are: Americans agree that government is broken, just as Paul Volcker and others see that the civil service system is broken. I think the two are inextricably linked. It is not possible to fix government without remaking public service, and vice-versa. What is missing in both is a framework that honors human responsibility. Making practical choices in government, as in any life activity, requires that people be free to roll up their sleeves and make sense of the situation before them. Similarly, attracting good people to government is impossible unless they can make a difference. No one who is any good wants to be a paper-pusher. The decline of human agency is the common thread of broken government and broken civil service. Not much in life or in government will work sensibly when no human is free to make it work.
Philip K. Howard
Washington Examiner
Americans hate overbearing government. Daily choices in America are continually skewed and stymied by bureaucratic indignities. Nurses spend half their day filling out forms. Teachers are forbidden to put an arm around a crying child. A small business must go to multiple agencies for a simple permit. Mothers get in trouble for letting children go for a walk by themselves. Businesses no longer give job references. Trying to keep the paperwork in order, and constantly worrying about bureaucratic compliance, has led to a plague of burnout. Instead of striving forth in the land of freedom, Americans tiptoe through a legal minefield. Trump successfully pokes this wound, even though he offers no coherent governing ideas to heal it. But Democrats offer no vision to deal with voter anger at Washington. Democrats see any criticism of government as illiberal. But dense legacy bureaucracies not only suffocate citizens but also cripple good government.
Americans hate overbearing government. Daily choices in America are continually skewed and stymied by bureaucratic indignities. Nurses spend half their day filling out forms. Teachers are forbidden to put an arm around a crying child. A small business must go to multiple agencies for a simple permit. Mothers get in trouble for letting children go for a walk by themselves. Businesses no longer give job references. Trying to keep the paperwork in order, and constantly worrying about bureaucratic compliance, has led to a plague of burnout. Instead of striving forth in the land of freedom, Americans tiptoe through a legal minefield. Trump successfully pokes this wound, even though he offers no coherent governing ideas to heal it. But Democrats offer no vision to deal with voter anger at Washington. Democrats see any criticism of government as illiberal. But dense legacy bureaucracies not only suffocate citizens but also cripple good government.
Steve Forbes
Forbes
Howard’s short yet blood-pressure-raising book makes the case that the current political parties—rhetoric to the contrary—are too vested in the status quo to make the radical changes that would allow America to again be the practical culture we once were.
Howard’s short yet blood-pressure-raising book makes the case that the current political parties—rhetoric to the contrary—are too vested in the status quo to make the radical changes that would allow America to again be the practical culture we once were.
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Beyond the Headlines


C-SPAN
Philip visits C-SPAN’s Book TV and the National Association of Manufacturers to discuss The Rule of Nobody and infrastructure. Watch the program here: http://www.c-span.org/video/?319349-1/book-discussion-rule-nobody
Philip visits C-SPAN's Book TV and the National Association of Manufacturers to discuss The Rule of Nobody and infrastructure. Watch the program here: http://www.c-span.org/video/?319349-1/book-discussion-rule-nobody


Reason.com


Common Good
Philip speaks on the danger of obsolete law
Philip speaks on the danger of obsolete law


The Carnegie Council


Washington Policy Center


CSPAN

USA Today
Our national political parties, of course, have starkly different visions of what government should do. But they can surely agree that whatever government does must be done better. This requires long-overdue rebooting of government programs. They can start by targeting two kinds of perverse legacies: programs that are simply payoffs to narrow special interests and bureaucratic rigidities that hobble effective administration of worthy programs.
Our national political parties, of course, have starkly different visions of what government should do. But they can surely agree that whatever government does must be done better. This requires long-overdue rebooting of government programs. They can start by targeting two kinds of perverse legacies: programs that are simply payoffs to narrow special interests and bureaucratic rigidities that hobble effective administration of worthy programs.
Yale Law Journal
The Progressive Movement succeeded in replacing laissez-faire with public oversight of safety and markets. But its vision of neutral administration, in which officials in lab coats mechanically applied law, never reflected the realities and political tradeoffs in most public choices. The crisis of public trust in the 1960s spawned a radical transformation of government operating systems to finally achieve a neutral public administration, without official bias or error. Laws and regulations would not only set public goals but also dictate precisely how to implement them. The constitutional protections of due process were expanded to allow disappointed citizens, employees, and students to challenge official decisions, even managerial choices, and put officials to the proof. The result, after fifty years, is public paralysis. In an effort to avoid bad public choices, the operating system precludes good public choices. It must be rebuilt to honor human agency and reinvigorate democratic choices.
The Progressive Movement succeeded in replacing laissez-faire with public oversight of safety and markets. But its vision of neutral administration, in which officials in lab coats mechanically applied law, never reflected the realities and political tradeoffs in most public choices. The crisis of public trust in the 1960s spawned a radical transformation of government operating systems to finally achieve a neutral public administration, without official bias or error. Laws and regulations would not only set public goals but also dictate precisely how to implement them. The constitutional protections of due process were expanded to allow disappointed citizens, employees, and students to challenge official decisions, even managerial choices, and put officials to the proof. The result, after fifty years, is public paralysis. In an effort to avoid bad public choices, the operating system precludes good public choices. It must be rebuilt to honor human agency and reinvigorate democratic choices.
The Hill
The enemy is not each other, as President-elect Biden continually said. The enemy is the Washington status quo — a ruinously expensive and paralytic bureaucratic quicksand. Change is in the air. But the politics are impossible. That’s why one of first acts of President Biden should be to appoint spring cleaning commissions to propose new frameworks that will liberate Americans at all levels of responsibility to roll up their sleeves and make America work again.
The enemy is not each other, as President-elect Biden continually said. The enemy is the Washington status quo — a ruinously expensive and paralytic bureaucratic quicksand. Change is in the air. But the politics are impossible. That’s why one of first acts of President Biden should be to appoint spring cleaning commissions to propose new frameworks that will liberate Americans at all levels of responsibility to roll up their sleeves and make America work again.
The Hill
The cure to public paralysis is to replace the bureaucratic blob with simpler framework, more like the Constitution, that reempowers officials and citizens alike to get things done. The Framers intended to create a republic where officials would act on their best judgment, not an inhuman machine where public decisions are preset in millions of words of rigid dictates and one-size-fits-all.
The cure to public paralysis is to replace the bureaucratic blob with simpler framework, more like the Constitution, that reempowers officials and citizens alike to get things done. The Framers intended to create a republic where officials would act on their best judgment, not an inhuman machine where public decisions are preset in millions of words of rigid dictates and one-size-fits-all.
Florida Times-Union
Common Good doesn’t want to eliminate government but make it work sensibly, cleaning out waste, inefficiency and obsolete programs. Chair Philip Howard calls this “re-regulation” with common sense replacing red tape. One of the first reforms from Common Good is to call for spring cleaning commissions to make government work more efficiently for the people. For instance, one report revealed 5,000 rules for a family-owned apple orchard.
Common Good doesn't want to eliminate government but make it work sensibly, cleaning out waste, inefficiency and obsolete programs. Chair Philip Howard calls this "re-regulation" with common sense replacing red tape. One of the first reforms from Common Good is to call for spring cleaning commissions to make government work more efficiently for the people. For instance, one report revealed 5,000 rules for a family-owned apple orchard.
Newsweek
Democrats today seem to think that making government work better is somehow inconsistent with a progressive agenda. In fact, however, the Democrats’ activist agenda may not be credible unless it is packaged with a practical vision to make government work better. As they painfully discovered with the failed launch of the Obamacare website, the activist agenda isn’t even possible unless it can deliver.
Democrats today seem to think that making government work better is somehow inconsistent with a progressive agenda. In fact, however, the Democrats' activist agenda may not be credible unless it is packaged with a practical vision to make government work better. As they painfully discovered with the failed launch of the Obamacare website, the activist agenda isn't even possible unless it can deliver.
Education Next
The stranglehold by central bureaucrats and union officials over how schools work is why they fail so badly. Public schools are a giant assembly line of rigid work rules, legal entitlements, course plans, metrics, granular documentation, and legal proceedings for almost any disagreement, including classroom discipline and comments in a personnel file. Day after day, teachers and principals grind through the dictates of this legal assembly line. There’s little room for innovation or creativity, and not even the authority to maintain order. The only certainty is no accountability. No matter how much or how little someone tries, no matter how badly a school performs, there will be no effective accountability.
The stranglehold by central bureaucrats and union officials over how schools work is why they fail so badly. Public schools are a giant assembly line of rigid work rules, legal entitlements, course plans, metrics, granular documentation, and legal proceedings for almost any disagreement, including classroom discipline and comments in a personnel file. Day after day, teachers and principals grind through the dictates of this legal assembly line. There’s little room for innovation or creativity, and not even the authority to maintain order. The only certainty is no accountability. No matter how much or how little someone tries, no matter how badly a school performs, there will be no effective accountability.
USA Today
Extremism usually comes from a sense of powerlessness. People who are frustrated by the inability to solve problems eventually resort to radical demands. … Powerlessness corrupts. Overcoming the broad sense of disempowerment holds the key to a new governing vision. Americans need to feel that government can make things better. We also need to believe that we too can make a difference.
Extremism usually comes from a sense of powerlessness. People who are frustrated by the inability to solve problems eventually resort to radical demands. ... Powerlessness corrupts. Overcoming the broad sense of disempowerment holds the key to a new governing vision. Americans need to feel that government can make things better. We also need to believe that we too can make a difference.
The Hill
Trust in the new rules is essential for Americans to brave the risks and to adhere to the guidelines. A new pandemic social contract is needed that reassures Americans they will not be left to fend for themselves if they get sick. Because the overhang of potential risk to individuals and liability to employers could significantly impact the national economy, this new social contract should be made as matter of federal law.
Trust in the new rules is essential for Americans to brave the risks and to adhere to the guidelines. A new pandemic social contract is needed that reassures Americans they will not be left to fend for themselves if they get sick. Because the overhang of potential risk to individuals and liability to employers could significantly impact the national economy, this new social contract should be made as matter of federal law.
Washington Examiner
And, I think if you look, a lot of the things, reforms that changed through history, you’ll find people who created a kind of a new vision that people found attractive, and that powered it. That’s the idea here. And it could turn into many different things, but mainly, the idea is to have people think about how government should work, and how schools should work and such, in a different way. We empower people. Let people wake up in the morning, think that they can make a difference because of the way they do things, because of their ideas and their hard work. That’s really what America’s about.
And, I think if you look, a lot of the things, reforms that changed through history, you'll find people who created a kind of a new vision that people found attractive, and that powered it. That's the idea here. And it could turn into many different things, but mainly, the idea is to have people think about how government should work, and how schools should work and such, in a different way. We empower people. Let people wake up in the morning, think that they can make a difference because of the way they do things, because of their ideas and their hard work. That's really what America's about.
Washington Examiner
Rebuilding America’s decrepit infrastructure would be a fabulous way to come out of the COVID shutdown — a million or more jobs, most of which are outdoors. How do we do that? What’s missing is a coherent authority structure to make needed choices. This requires action by Congress to create a workable permitting framework and to provide for funding. The Trump administration acts by executive order because, early on, it concluded that dealing with Congress is hopeless. But COVID is different, and Congress has demonstrated an ability to act.
Rebuilding America’s decrepit infrastructure would be a fabulous way to come out of the COVID shutdown — a million or more jobs, most of which are outdoors. How do we do that? What’s missing is a coherent authority structure to make needed choices. This requires action by Congress to create a workable permitting framework and to provide for funding. The Trump administration acts by executive order because, early on, it concluded that dealing with Congress is hopeless. But COVID is different, and Congress has demonstrated an ability to act.
USA Today
Democracy is supposed to be a mechanism for public accountability, but democracy can’t function if the links in the chain are broken. We elect governors and mayors, but they have no effective control over police, schools or other public institutions. The organizational flaw here boils down to confusion between liberty and responsibility. Police and other public employees have an affirmative responsibility to serve the public effectively. They must be accountable not by the standards of a criminal trial, but for meeting a much higher standard of public stewardship. It is the job of supervisors to make these judgments.
Democracy is supposed to be a mechanism for public accountability, but democracy can’t function if the links in the chain are broken. We elect governors and mayors, but they have no effective control over police, schools or other public institutions. The organizational flaw here boils down to confusion between liberty and responsibility. Police and other public employees have an affirmative responsibility to serve the public effectively. They must be accountable not by the standards of a criminal trial, but for meeting a much higher standard of public stewardship. It is the job of supervisors to make these judgments.
City Journal
A functioning democracy requires the bureaucratic machine to return to officials and citizens the authority needed to do their jobs. That necessitates a governing framework of goals and principles that re-empowers Americans to take responsibility for results. Giving officials, judges, and others the authority to act in accord with reasonable norms is what liberates everyone else to act sensibly. Students won’t learn unless the teacher maintains order in the classroom. New ideas by a teacher or parent go nowhere if the principal lacks the authority to act on them. To get a permit in timely fashion, the permitting official must have authority to decide how much review is needed. To enforce codes of civil discourse—and not allow a small group of students to bully everyone else—university administrators must have authority to sanction students who refuse to abide by the codes. To prevent judicial claims from becoming weapons of extortion, judges must have authority to determine their reasonableness. To contain a virulent virus, public-health officials must have authority to respond quickly.
A functioning democracy requires the bureaucratic machine to return to officials and citizens the authority needed to do their jobs. That necessitates a governing framework of goals and principles that re-empowers Americans to take responsibility for results. Giving officials, judges, and others the authority to act in accord with reasonable norms is what liberates everyone else to act sensibly. Students won’t learn unless the teacher maintains order in the classroom. New ideas by a teacher or parent go nowhere if the principal lacks the authority to act on them. To get a permit in timely fashion, the permitting official must have authority to decide how much review is needed. To enforce codes of civil discourse—and not allow a small group of students to bully everyone else—university administrators must have authority to sanction students who refuse to abide by the codes. To prevent judicial claims from becoming weapons of extortion, judges must have authority to determine their reasonableness. To contain a virulent virus, public-health officials must have authority to respond quickly.
USA Today
Government needs to become disciplined again, just as in wartime. It must be adaptable, and encourage private initiative without unnecessary frictions. Dense codes should be replaced with simpler goal-oriented frameworks, as Cuomo has done. Red tape should be replaced with accountability. Excess baggage should be tossed overboard. We’re in a storm, and can’t get out while wallowing under the heavy weight of legacy practices and special privileges.
Government needs to become disciplined again, just as in wartime. It must be adaptable, and encourage private initiative without unnecessary frictions. Dense codes should be replaced with simpler goal-oriented frameworks, as Cuomo has done. Red tape should be replaced with accountability. Excess baggage should be tossed overboard. We’re in a storm, and can’t get out while wallowing under the heavy weight of legacy practices and special privileges.
The Hill
To achieve public trust, an independent recovery commission need not have power. Its moral authority will stem, in part, from the fact that it is not dictatorial. What it can do is provide sober, nonpartisan recommendations that acknowledge the tradeoffs and explain why a certain course seems best. The president and Congress can act as they see fit, but departing from the recovery commission’s recommendations will carry political peril. Accepting its recommendations will take the partisan edge off the decision, and enhance public trust in the course chosen.
To achieve public trust, an independent recovery commission need not have power. Its moral authority will stem, in part, from the fact that it is not dictatorial. What it can do is provide sober, nonpartisan recommendations that acknowledge the tradeoffs and explain why a certain course seems best. The president and Congress can act as they see fit, but departing from the recovery commission’s recommendations will carry political peril. Accepting its recommendations will take the partisan edge off the decision, and enhance public trust in the course chosen.
City Journal
We need an immediate intervention to break America free from its bureaucratic addiction. It must be done if the nation is to come back whole in any reasonable time frame. The first step is for Congress to authorize a temporary Recovery Authority with the mandate to expedite private and public initiatives, including the waiver of rules and procedures that impede public goals. States, too, should set up recovery authorities to expedite permitting and waive costly reporting requirements.
We need an immediate intervention to break America free from its bureaucratic addiction. It must be done if the nation is to come back whole in any reasonable time frame. The first step is for Congress to authorize a temporary Recovery Authority with the mandate to expedite private and public initiatives, including the waiver of rules and procedures that impede public goals. States, too, should set up recovery authorities to expedite permitting and waive costly reporting requirements.
USA Today
Once the crisis is under control, the same kind of energy and resourcefulness will be needed to get America’s schools, businesses, government agencies and nonprofits up and running again. What’s needed is a temporary Recovery Authority with a broad mandate to identify and waive unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles to recovery. The public will benefit not only with faster recovery, but also by treating the new approaches as pilot projects for more effective governance.
Once the crisis is under control, the same kind of energy and resourcefulness will be needed to get America’s schools, businesses, government agencies and nonprofits up and running again. What’s needed is a temporary Recovery Authority with a broad mandate to identify and waive unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles to recovery. The public will benefit not only with faster recovery, but also by treating the new approaches as pilot projects for more effective governance.
Newsweek
The bold idea, available to both parties, is system overhaul: Streamline government so it can achieve its goals, not abandon its goals. Conventional wisdom is the opposite—to take pruning shears into the jungle and clean up a specific area. But history shows that meaningful reforms happen in a surge, not incrementally—think the 1960s, the 1930s, and the Progressive era. Political scientists call it “punctuated equilibrium.” Pressures build until, all at once, the system breaks and new ideas rush in.
The bold idea, available to both parties, is system overhaul: Streamline government so it can achieve its goals, not abandon its goals. Conventional wisdom is the opposite—to take pruning shears into the jungle and clean up a specific area. But history shows that meaningful reforms happen in a surge, not incrementally—think the 1960s, the 1930s, and the Progressive era. Political scientists call it "punctuated equilibrium." Pressures build until, all at once, the system breaks and new ideas rush in.
George Mason Law School
I focus in this paper on accountability, which I believe is the lynchpin to overall reform of the civil service system. Giving public officials more responsibility, for example, is essential to attracting energetic and qualified candidates. Affording officials more flexibility also allows them to make common sense tradeoffs when confronting real-world situations, and thereby help relieve the frustrations Americans feel when stymied by bureaucratic rigidities. But few people will support giving officials more responsibility unless they are accountable if they misuse the authority.
The Hill
Reformers have confused cause and effect: Paralyzed government, not polarization, is the original sin of modern government. Bureaucratic densification since the 1970s has made government beyond human control. Government’s inability to respond to public needs is the chicken that laid the egg of polarized politics. The inability of Americans to roll up their sleeves and fix things leads inexorably to extremism. Political leaders who can’t get things done compete instead by pointing fingers and screaming louder.
Reformers have confused cause and effect: Paralyzed government, not polarization, is the original sin of modern government. Bureaucratic densification since the 1970s has made government beyond human control. Government’s inability to respond to public needs is the chicken that laid the egg of polarized politics. The inability of Americans to roll up their sleeves and fix things leads inexorably to extremism. Political leaders who can’t get things done compete instead by pointing fingers and screaming louder.
American Infrastructure
Infrastructure is the backbone of an economy. National competitiveness and a sustainable environment require it to be kept up to date. It is no secret that America’s road, rail, water, and power infrastructure systems are woefully out of date. Political leaders say they are committed to fixing it. But nothing happens. Many projects are no-brainers—not building new rail tunnels under the Hudson River, for example, could result in paralyzing gridlock for 20 percent of the national economy. But even obvious projects are bogged down in red tape in Washington. Any suggestion by leaders of one party will be reflexively opposed by leaders of the other party. There’s no clear sense of what should get rebuilt, and no political imperative to rationalize the permitting and procurement red tape so that projects can get built in a reasonable timeframe and budget.
Infrastructure is the backbone of an economy. National competitiveness and a sustainable environment require it to be kept up to date. It is no secret that America’s road, rail, water, and power infrastructure systems are woefully out of date. Political leaders say they are committed to fixing it. But nothing happens. Many projects are no-brainers—not building new rail tunnels under the Hudson River, for example, could result in paralyzing gridlock for 20 percent of the national economy. But even obvious projects are bogged down in red tape in Washington. Any suggestion by leaders of one party will be reflexively opposed by leaders of the other party. There’s no clear sense of what should get rebuilt, and no political imperative to rationalize the permitting and procurement red tape so that projects can get built in a reasonable timeframe and budget.
Regulatory Review
Here we are: Americans agree that government is broken, just as Paul Volcker and others see that the civil service system is broken. I think the two are inextricably linked. It is not possible to fix government without remaking public service, and vice-versa. What is missing in both is a framework that honors human responsibility. Making practical choices in government, as in any life activity, requires that people be free to roll up their sleeves and make sense of the situation before them. Similarly, attracting good people to government is impossible unless they can make a difference. No one who is any good wants to be a paper-pusher. The decline of human agency is the common thread of broken government and broken civil service. Not much in life or in government will work sensibly when no human is free to make it work.
Here we are: Americans agree that government is broken, just as Paul Volcker and others see that the civil service system is broken. I think the two are inextricably linked. It is not possible to fix government without remaking public service, and vice-versa. What is missing in both is a framework that honors human responsibility. Making practical choices in government, as in any life activity, requires that people be free to roll up their sleeves and make sense of the situation before them. Similarly, attracting good people to government is impossible unless they can make a difference. No one who is any good wants to be a paper-pusher. The decline of human agency is the common thread of broken government and broken civil service. Not much in life or in government will work sensibly when no human is free to make it work.
Washington Examiner
Americans hate overbearing government. Daily choices in America are continually skewed and stymied by bureaucratic indignities. Nurses spend half their day filling out forms. Teachers are forbidden to put an arm around a crying child. A small business must go to multiple agencies for a simple permit. Mothers get in trouble for letting children go for a walk by themselves. Businesses no longer give job references. Trying to keep the paperwork in order, and constantly worrying about bureaucratic compliance, has led to a plague of burnout. Instead of striving forth in the land of freedom, Americans tiptoe through a legal minefield. Trump successfully pokes this wound, even though he offers no coherent governing ideas to heal it. But Democrats offer no vision to deal with voter anger at Washington. Democrats see any criticism of government as illiberal. But dense legacy bureaucracies not only suffocate citizens but also cripple good government.
Americans hate overbearing government. Daily choices in America are continually skewed and stymied by bureaucratic indignities. Nurses spend half their day filling out forms. Teachers are forbidden to put an arm around a crying child. A small business must go to multiple agencies for a simple permit. Mothers get in trouble for letting children go for a walk by themselves. Businesses no longer give job references. Trying to keep the paperwork in order, and constantly worrying about bureaucratic compliance, has led to a plague of burnout. Instead of striving forth in the land of freedom, Americans tiptoe through a legal minefield. Trump successfully pokes this wound, even though he offers no coherent governing ideas to heal it. But Democrats offer no vision to deal with voter anger at Washington. Democrats see any criticism of government as illiberal. But dense legacy bureaucracies not only suffocate citizens but also cripple good government.
Forbes
Howard’s short yet blood-pressure-raising book makes the case that the current political parties—rhetoric to the contrary—are too vested in the status quo to make the radical changes that would allow America to again be the practical culture we once were.
Howard’s short yet blood-pressure-raising book makes the case that the current political parties—rhetoric to the contrary—are too vested in the status quo to make the radical changes that would allow America to again be the practical culture we once were.
Quest
PHILIP K. HOWARD is a New York City-based lawyer and writer who is a vocal advocate for government and legal reform. A self-declared “radical centrist,” Howard founded and heads Common Good, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that champions simplifying government. He has given a TED talk, appeared on The Daily Show, served on Trump’s CEO council, and authored several books, the most recent of which is Try Common Sense: Replacing the Failed Ideologies of Right and Left (W.W. Norton & Co., 2019). He recently offered his thoughts on how Washington can—and should—be fixed.
Forbes
Instead of promising the moon, why don’t Democrats promise to clean house? Public opinion is aligned for a historic transformation of Washington. A vision for a simpler, more practical government could appeal not only to centrists but also to Republican voters who know in their hearts that real leadership is impossible without a positive governing vision and moral authority.
Instead of promising the moon, why don’t Democrats promise to clean house? Public opinion is aligned for a historic transformation of Washington. A vision for a simpler, more practical government could appeal not only to centrists but also to Republican voters who know in their hearts that real leadership is impossible without a positive governing vision and moral authority.
America Magazine
Washington Examiner
For 25 years now, lawyer-author Philip K. Howard has led a righteous crusade. His goal: to reduce bureaucracy, regulations, and lawsuits that stifle innovation and improvement, to be replaced with renewed discretion and authority throughout public and quasi-public spheres. His crusade continues with Try Common Sense, another masterful summons on behalf of “a governing philosophy that re-empowers people to make practical choices.” In this, his fifth full-length book, Howard evokes the title of his original 1994 best-seller, The Death of Common Sense. The themes are much the same, which is, alas, an indication that despite all his writing and the work of his nonpartisan Common Goodcoalition, “pretty much everything run by government [still] is broken.”
For 25 years now, lawyer-author Philip K. Howard has led a righteous crusade. His goal: to reduce bureaucracy, regulations, and lawsuits that stifle innovation and improvement, to be replaced with renewed discretion and authority throughout public and quasi-public spheres. His crusade continues with Try Common Sense, another masterful summons on behalf of “a governing philosophy that re-empowers people to make practical choices.” In this, his fifth full-length book, Howard evokes the title of his original 1994 best-seller, The Death of Common Sense. The themes are much the same, which is, alas, an indication that despite all his writing and the work of his nonpartisan Common Goodcoalition, “pretty much everything run by government [still] is broken.”
Financial Times
“American government is suffering from a failure of philosophy, not merely bad management,” Howard writes, listing examples of prescriptive legalistic overreach. These include orchards that must comply with 5,000 rules from 17 agencies — one rule even stipulates that farmers check daily for mouse droppings. There are rules that ban firefighters from transporting injured people in their vehicles to hospital, and prevent immigration officials from giving distressed children a hug; planning laws that impose delays of several years on simple bridge projects; there are states that require multiple licences for basic jobs. And so on.
“American government is suffering from a failure of philosophy, not merely bad management,” Howard writes, listing examples of prescriptive legalistic overreach. These include orchards that must comply with 5,000 rules from 17 agencies — one rule even stipulates that farmers check daily for mouse droppings. There are rules that ban firefighters from transporting injured people in their vehicles to hospital, and prevent immigration officials from giving distressed children a hug; planning laws that impose delays of several years on simple bridge projects; there are states that require multiple licences for basic jobs. And so on.
Law & Liberty
The opposite of the rule of law is the rule of men, and this is essentially Howard’s proposed solution. It’s what he means by “try common sense.” In an appendix titled “Ten Principles for a Practical Society,” he recommends scrapping the entire tottering U.S. legal and bureaucratic superstructure for a skeletal armature of laws and regulations that would give both private individuals and public officials the scope and flexibility to exercise personal responsibility. One-stop permitting shops for small businesses would replace today’s labyrinthine system. Statutes and rules would be sunsetted if they no longer served the public good. Agencies could terminate incompetent or disruptive employees without further ado (which would have the benefit of raising all-around workplace morale and restoring pride to civil service), and judges could summarily dismiss pointless lawsuits. Needless to say, public-employee unions would be among the first institutions to go. Howard argues that they are unconstitutional anyway, an infringement of the power of the executive branch to hire and fire within limits of reasonable discretion.
The opposite of the rule of law is the rule of men, and this is essentially Howard’s proposed solution. It’s what he means by “try common sense.” In an appendix titled “Ten Principles for a Practical Society,” he recommends scrapping the entire tottering U.S. legal and bureaucratic superstructure for a skeletal armature of laws and regulations that would give both private individuals and public officials the scope and flexibility to exercise personal responsibility. One-stop permitting shops for small businesses would replace today’s labyrinthine system. Statutes and rules would be sunsetted if they no longer served the public good. Agencies could terminate incompetent or disruptive employees without further ado (which would have the benefit of raising all-around workplace morale and restoring pride to civil service), and judges could summarily dismiss pointless lawsuits. Needless to say, public-employee unions would be among the first institutions to go. Howard argues that they are unconstitutional anyway, an infringement of the power of the executive branch to hire and fire within limits of reasonable discretion.
The Hill
No one seriously doubts the need to modernize America’s infrastructure. The main stumbling block is broad distrust of Washington’s ability to deliver any large public works initiative. Getting past this impasse offers a unique opportunity to reboot the rules, cutting effective costs by over 50 percent.
No one seriously doubts the need to modernize America’s infrastructure. The main stumbling block is broad distrust of Washington’s ability to deliver any large public works initiative. Getting past this impasse offers a unique opportunity to reboot the rules, cutting effective costs by over 50 percent.
The Hill
What’s missing is a governing vision that makes Americans part of the solution. Only then can leaders attract the popular mandate needed to overcome the resistance of Washington. Only then will there be a principled basis for officials and citizens to make practical choices going forward. The best model for modern government is to revive the framework of democratic responsibility designed by the Framers: Replace red tape with human responsibility at all levels of society. This governing vision, though centrist, requires a radical simplification of Washington bureaucracies.
What’s missing is a governing vision that makes Americans part of the solution. Only then can leaders attract the popular mandate needed to overcome the resistance of Washington. Only then will there be a principled basis for officials and citizens to make practical choices going forward. The best model for modern government is to revive the framework of democratic responsibility designed by the Framers: Replace red tape with human responsibility at all levels of society. This governing vision, though centrist, requires a radical simplification of Washington bureaucracies.
Daily Beast
Centrist policies will not work unless coupled with a new governing vision that liberates practical choices at every level of responsibility. The only cure to voter alienation is a realistic sense of voter ownership. Americans need to be given back the dignity, and self-respect, of accomplishing things in their own ways, and in their own communities. This requires abandoning the 50-year growth of bureaucratic kudzu, and replacing it with simpler, goal-oriented structures activated by humans taking responsibility, more like, say, the principles in the Constitution.
Centrist policies will not work unless coupled with a new governing vision that liberates practical choices at every level of responsibility. The only cure to voter alienation is a realistic sense of voter ownership. Americans need to be given back the dignity, and self-respect, of accomplishing things in their own ways, and in their own communities. This requires abandoning the 50-year growth of bureaucratic kudzu, and replacing it with simpler, goal-oriented structures activated by humans taking responsibility, more like, say, the principles in the Constitution.
RealClear Books
Contrary to conventional wisdom, morality is not merely a matter of personal belief. Morality is the mortar of a healthy society. Man must be moral, Durkheim emphasized, “because he lives in society.” Morality infuses social dealings with mutual trust. People are able to achieve more when they trust others to abide by shared norms of fairness, such as the Golden Rule directive to “do unto others . . .” Truthfulness is essential for trust. Norms of sharing and restraint are essential for stewardship of scarce common resources—including protecting clean air and water, and allocating finite public budgets in schools and government.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, morality is not merely a matter of personal belief. Morality is the mortar of a healthy society. Man must be moral, Durkheim emphasized, “because he lives in society.” Morality infuses social dealings with mutual trust. People are able to achieve more when they trust others to abide by shared norms of fairness, such as the Golden Rule directive to “do unto others . . .” Truthfulness is essential for trust. Norms of sharing and restraint are essential for stewardship of scarce common resources—including protecting clean air and water, and allocating finite public budgets in schools and government.
Newsweek
Modern government is disconnected from the needs and capabilities of real people. Instead of honoring what Karol Wojtyla, later to become Pope John Paul II, called “the fundamental uniqueness of each human person,” it dictates uniform public choices at a granular level, applying to all people. The relevant question in public interactions is not what a person needs or believes but what the rule requires.
Modern government is disconnected from the needs and capabilities of real people. Instead of honoring what Karol Wojtyla, later to become Pope John Paul II, called “the fundamental uniqueness of each human person,” it dictates uniform public choices at a granular level, applying to all people. The relevant question in public interactions is not what a person needs or believes but what the rule requires.
City Journal
Washington Post
In his latest book, “Try Common Sense: Replacing the Failed Ideologies of Right and Left,” Howard makes a case for pushing a giant reset button: in effect, starting over by wiping clean the legal landscape and replacing it with a series of principles that apply a common-law standard to government decisions. Howard, the founder of a nonprofit called Common Good, which aims to simplify government, wants to encourage reasonable action to control pollution, make the workplace safe and guide just about every other policy choice in the interest of the common good. He has been advocating for common sense in law and government for more than 20 years, since his book “The Death of Common Sense” came out in 1994. But looking around today one can’t help thinking that common sense in America is as elusive as a unicorn.
In his latest book, “Try Common Sense: Replacing the Failed Ideologies of Right and Left,” Howard makes a case for pushing a giant reset button: in effect, starting over by wiping clean the legal landscape and replacing it with a series of principles that apply a common-law standard to government decisions. Howard, the founder of a nonprofit called Common Good, which aims to simplify government, wants to encourage reasonable action to control pollution, make the workplace safe and guide just about every other policy choice in the interest of the common good. He has been advocating for common sense in law and government for more than 20 years, since his book “The Death of Common Sense” came out in 1994. But looking around today one can’t help thinking that common sense in America is as elusive as a unicorn.
Niskanen Center
America’s current governing system, created after the 1960s, dictates governing choices out of a huge legal machine, programmed with about 150 million words of federal law. Its one virtue, at least to people in Washington, is that it absolves them from having to take responsibility for how things actually work. What keeps it in place, despite its failure, is distrust.
America’s current governing system, created after the 1960s, dictates governing choices out of a huge legal machine, programmed with about 150 million words of federal law. Its one virtue, at least to people in Washington, is that it absolves them from having to take responsibility for how things actually work. What keeps it in place, despite its failure, is distrust.
Center on Capitalism and Society
The best cure to citizen alienation is citizen ownership. Americans must feel free to make sense of their daily choices, to deal with officials who also can be practical, and to elect leaders who can govern in a way that responds to voter desires and needs. That’s why America should abandon modern bureaucracy and rebuild a governing framework grounded in human responsibility.
American Interest
The modern bureaucratic state must be replaced, not repaired. We must simplify governing structures to liberate human judgment and initiative at all levels of society. No institutions, including democratic ones, can work effectively when people are prevented from drawing on their knowledge, instincts, and experience about how to get things done. Refocusing government on public goals, and away from micromanaging daily choices and interactions, will relieve much of the frustration and anger that drives voters toward populist leaders and extremist solutions.
The modern bureaucratic state must be replaced, not repaired. We must simplify governing structures to liberate human judgment and initiative at all levels of society. No institutions, including democratic ones, can work effectively when people are prevented from drawing on their knowledge, instincts, and experience about how to get things done. Refocusing government on public goals, and away from micromanaging daily choices and interactions, will relieve much of the frustration and anger that drives voters toward populist leaders and extremist solutions.
RealClear Books
In this compact book, Philip K. Howard picks up where he left off with ‘The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America‘, tapping into bipartisan unrest and prescribing three basic reforms … in an effort to restore power to the people.
In this compact book, Philip K. Howard picks up where he left off with 'The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America', tapping into bipartisan unrest and prescribing three basic reforms ... in an effort to restore power to the people.
New York Post
It’s time to bite the bullet: Washington can’t be repaired, it must be replaced. Creating a coherent governing framework is not so daunting. Most bureaucratic detail is irrelevant when people are allowed to take responsibility again.
It’s time to bite the bullet: Washington can’t be repaired, it must be replaced. Creating a coherent governing framework is not so daunting. Most bureaucratic detail is irrelevant when people are allowed to take responsibility again.
Reason
Philip K Howard burst on the scene over 20 years ago with his best-selling book, The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America, which argued that out-of-control lawsuits and and rules and regulations were choking off vitality, innovation, and common decency. In 2002, he founded Common Good, a nonprofit whose credo is “simplify government, put humans back in charge, and cut mindless red tape.” In 2014, I interviewed Howard about his book The Rule of Nobody.
Philip K Howard burst on the scene over 20 years ago with his best-selling book, The Death of Common Sense: How Law Is Suffocating America, which argued that out-of-control lawsuits and and rules and regulations were choking off vitality, innovation, and common decency. In 2002, he founded Common Good, a nonprofit whose credo is "simplify government, put humans back in charge, and cut mindless red tape." In 2014, I interviewed Howard about his book The Rule of Nobody.
GoLocalProv
One of the most intriguing of the ideas in my old friend Philip K. Howard’s new book – Try Common Sense: Replacing Failed Ideologies of the Left and Right — is to move a lot of federal operations out of Washington to get them away from the entrenched lobbyist-run corruption there and closer to the people and in some cases to outstanding local expertise. Such moves would liberate more federal employees to take decisions in the public interest.
One of the most intriguing of the ideas in my old friend Philip K. Howard’s new book – Try Common Sense: Replacing Failed Ideologies of the Left and Right -- is to move a lot of federal operations out of Washington to get them away from the entrenched lobbyist-run corruption there and closer to the people and in some cases to outstanding local expertise. Such moves would liberate more federal employees to take decisions in the public interest.
TIME
As the rhetoric between American political parties grows more tense, Philip K. Howard offers a solution based in practicality. In his book, Howard explains how the ideologies of both the Democrats and Republicans have left Americans with little choice but to demand more for themselves. He believes that a successful democracy is built on accountability and outlines his framework here, arguing that current bureaucratic processes are inhibiting the change America needs.
As the rhetoric between American political parties grows more tense, Philip K. Howard offers a solution based in practicality. In his book, Howard explains how the ideologies of both the Democrats and Republicans have left Americans with little choice but to demand more for themselves. He believes that a successful democracy is built on accountability and outlines his framework here, arguing that current bureaucratic processes are inhibiting the change America needs.
The Hill
Distrust is the main hurdle to reforming civil service. Personnel decisions require judgment, not objective proof. How do you prove who doesn’t work hard, or isn’t cooperative with co-workers, or is mean-spirited? Someone must make those decisions, and Trump’s appointees are unlikely to be trusted. Union officials defend current procedures as being “just a matter of due process.” But due process is an impenetrable barrier because it puts the burden on the supervisor. Can you prove that this person is so much worse than anyone else? In a public service that aspires to A’s, due process protects people who get D’s and F’s.
Distrust is the main hurdle to reforming civil service. Personnel decisions require judgment, not objective proof. How do you prove who doesn’t work hard, or isn’t cooperative with co-workers, or is mean-spirited? Someone must make those decisions, and Trump’s appointees are unlikely to be trusted. Union officials defend current procedures as being “just a matter of due process.” But due process is an impenetrable barrier because it puts the burden on the supervisor. Can you prove that this person is so much worse than anyone else? In a public service that aspires to A’s, due process protects people who get D’s and F’s.
New York Post
Modernizing America’s infrastructure is a necessity, not an ideology. Rickety transmission lines lose 6 percent of their electricity, the equivalent of 200 coal-burning power plants. About 2,000 “high-hazard” dams are in deficient condition. Century-old water-mains leak over 2 trillion gallons of fresh water a year. Over 3 billion gallons of gasoline are consumed by vehicles idling in traffic jams. Half of fatal car accidents are caused in part by poor road conditions.
Modernizing America’s infrastructure is a necessity, not an ideology. Rickety transmission lines lose 6 percent of their electricity, the equivalent of 200 coal-burning power plants. About 2,000 “high-hazard” dams are in deficient condition. Century-old water-mains leak over 2 trillion gallons of fresh water a year. Over 3 billion gallons of gasoline are consumed by vehicles idling in traffic jams. Half of fatal car accidents are caused in part by poor road conditions.
Guardian
Howard, an advocate of government simplification, welcomed Trump’s plans to streamline procedures so that no project takes more than two years to get the go-ahead. “The processes by which we give permits for infrastructure is so slow and balkanised that they double the cost through delays and other things.”
Howard, an advocate of government simplification, welcomed Trump’s plans to streamline procedures so that no project takes more than two years to get the go-ahead. “The processes by which we give permits for infrastructure is so slow and balkanised that they double the cost through delays and other things.”
American Journal of Transportation
“There’s an obvious deal to be made here,” Howard believes. Create environmental reviews that can be finished in a year instead of five to ten years and get more to sign off on the proposition that it isn’t a waste of money to build the infrastructure that the country sorely needs.”
“There’s an obvious deal to be made here,” Howard believes. Create environmental reviews that can be finished in a year instead of five to ten years and get more to sign off on the proposition that it isn’t a waste of money to build the infrastructure that the country sorely needs."
New York Times
The centerpiece of Mr. Trump’s plan gives an office, the Council on Environmental Quality, within the White House, the authority to coordinate actions and direct how environmental reviews are performed. Much of the plan’s inspiration lies in a report, “Two Years Not Ten Years,” issued in 2015 by Common Good, a nonpartisan research and advocacy group.
The centerpiece of Mr. Trump’s plan gives an office, the Council on Environmental Quality, within the White House, the authority to coordinate actions and direct how environmental reviews are performed. Much of the plan’s inspiration lies in a report, “Two Years Not Ten Years,” issued in 2015 by Common Good, a nonpartisan research and advocacy group.
New York Daily News
The Scaffold Law is a symptom of a systemic problem. Government needs a spring cleaning. The goal should be not to remove good programs, but to make it possible for good programs to work — such as rebuilding decrepit infrastructure without wasting billions. Modern government fails not because the goals of, say, environmental review or worker safety are invalid, but because it tries to meet the goals with outmoded dictates that prescribe actions that make no sense, and, worse, prevent anyone in government from doing anything about it.
The Scaffold Law is a symptom of a systemic problem. Government needs a spring cleaning. The goal should be not to remove good programs, but to make it possible for good programs to work — such as rebuilding decrepit infrastructure without wasting billions. Modern government fails not because the goals of, say, environmental review or worker safety are invalid, but because it tries to meet the goals with outmoded dictates that prescribe actions that make no sense, and, worse, prevent anyone in government from doing anything about it.
New York Post
Common Good says the law, a vestige from the 1800s that benefits only lawyers and insurers, will add as much $300 million to the tunnel’s $13 billion price tag, based on an estimate by a Port Authority official. It would also add hundreds of millions to the cost of other tunnel-related projects, like the expansion of Penn Station tracks.
Common Good says the law, a vestige from the 1800s that benefits only lawyers and insurers, will add as much $300 million to the tunnel’s $13 billion price tag, based on an estimate by a Port Authority official. It would also add hundreds of millions to the cost of other tunnel-related projects, like the expansion of Penn Station tracks.
Inc.
Small businesses need their own separate regulatory system. It should be simple. It should be accessible from one place. And it should be focused on meeting regulatory goals rather than larded with details and prescriptions. That argument was made Wednesday by Philip K. Howard, founder of the anti-bureaucracy nonprofit Common Good, at a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee. Howard called the current regulatory framework a “powerful disincentive to entrepreneurship” and blamed compliance costs–in both time and money–for part of the decline in business starts.
Small businesses need their own separate regulatory system. It should be simple. It should be accessible from one place. And it should be focused on meeting regulatory goals rather than larded with details and prescriptions. That argument was made Wednesday by Philip K. Howard, founder of the anti-bureaucracy nonprofit Common Good, at a hearing before the U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee. Howard called the current regulatory framework a "powerful disincentive to entrepreneurship" and blamed compliance costs--in both time and money--for part of the decline in business starts.
Washington Post
Sensing that his Scottish enemies had blundered at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, Oliver Cromwell said, “The Lord hath delivered them into our hands.” Philip K. Howard, were he the exulting type, could rejoice that some of his adversaries have taken a stand on indefensible terrain. Because the inaccurately named Center for American Progress has chosen to defend the impediments that government places in its own path regarding public works, it has done Howard the favor of rekindling interest in something he wrote in 2015.
Sensing that his Scottish enemies had blundered at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, Oliver Cromwell said, “The Lord hath delivered them into our hands.” Philip K. Howard, were he the exulting type, could rejoice that some of his adversaries have taken a stand on indefensible terrain. Because the inaccurately named Center for American Progress has chosen to defend the impediments that government places in its own path regarding public works, it has done Howard the favor of rekindling interest in something he wrote in 2015.
New York Daily News
That idea draws heavily from the “Two Years Not 10 Years” plan pitched personally to Trump by Philip Howard, the chairman of Common Good, a Brooklyn-based nonpartisan group that advocates for regulatory reform. In his original 2015 white paper outlining the ideas, Howard advocates for actions that “cut red tape” from agencies, including the Transportation Department and Environmental Protection Agency, that have slowly “grown out of control over the past several decades.”
That idea draws heavily from the "Two Years Not 10 Years" plan pitched personally to Trump by Philip Howard, the chairman of Common Good, a Brooklyn-based nonpartisan group that advocates for regulatory reform. In his original 2015 white paper outlining the ideas, Howard advocates for actions that "cut red tape" from agencies, including the Transportation Department and Environmental Protection Agency, that have slowly "grown out of control over the past several decades."
Crain’s New York Business
“It’s hard to find an environmental review under 1,000 pages, and many are tens of thousands,” said Philip K. Howard, founder and chairman of nonprofit public advocacy organization Common Good and the lead author of a September 2015 report on the subject. “The relevant stuff is obscured in this sea of technical detail. There should just be a 50-page document on the construction impact so people can understand what’s going on and make sure it’s nothing stupid that disrupts neighborhoods.”
“It’s hard to find an environmental review under 1,000 pages, and many are tens of thousands,” said Philip K. Howard, founder and chairman of nonprofit public advocacy organization Common Good and the lead author of a September 2015 report on the subject. “The relevant stuff is obscured in this sea of technical detail. There should just be a 50-page document on the construction impact so people can understand what’s going on and make sure it’s nothing stupid that disrupts neighborhoods.”
American Infrastructure
Rebuilding America’s decrepit infrastructure requires a new permitting system. Approvals today can take a decade, sometimes longer. Delay dramatically adds to costs and prevents projects from getting off the drawing board. Lengthy environmental review usually harms the environment—prolonging bottlenecks that spew carbon into the air and waste into our waters. Time is money: America could modernize its infrastructure at half the cost while dramatically enhancing environmental benefits, with a two-year approval process.
Rebuilding America’s decrepit infrastructure requires a new permitting system. Approvals today can take a decade, sometimes longer. Delay dramatically adds to costs and prevents projects from getting off the drawing board. Lengthy environmental review usually harms the environment—prolonging bottlenecks that spew carbon into the air and waste into our waters. Time is money: America could modernize its infrastructure at half the cost while dramatically enhancing environmental benefits, with a two-year approval process.
Ripon Forum
Americans are angry not just because Washington is too fat, but because it’s so stupid. The failure is imbedded in the idea that government can be a machine. Indeed, the operating philosophy of government is that regulation should be mindless compliance. That’s why rulebooks are a thousand pages, when the Constitution is only 15 pages… What replaces red tape? People. Human responsibility is the only alternative to mindless bureaucracy. Law can set goals and provide guiding principles, but common sense is impossible unless people — both officials and citizens — have the freedom to use their judgment at the point of implementation.
Americans are angry not just because Washington is too fat, but because it’s so stupid. The failure is imbedded in the idea that government can be a machine. Indeed, the operating philosophy of government is that regulation should be mindless compliance. That’s why rulebooks are a thousand pages, when the Constitution is only 15 pages... What replaces red tape? People. Human responsibility is the only alternative to mindless bureaucracy. Law can set goals and provide guiding principles, but common sense is impossible unless people — both officials and citizens — have the freedom to use their judgment at the point of implementation.
Guardian
Howard called for an overhaul of the infrastructure permitting process, cutting through red tape for faster decisions. “There’s been this accretion of well-meaning laws over the last 50 years with no one in charge of drawing lines, so the process can take a decade or longer to get an infrastructure project,” he said. “The effect of that is that it more than doubles the cost of infrastructure and it’s also dramatically harmful to the environment, ironically, because conducting an environmental review just prolongs bottlenecks.
Howard called for an overhaul of the infrastructure permitting process, cutting through red tape for faster decisions. “There’s been this accretion of well-meaning laws over the last 50 years with no one in charge of drawing lines, so the process can take a decade or longer to get an infrastructure project,” he said. “The effect of that is that it more than doubles the cost of infrastructure and it’s also dramatically harmful to the environment, ironically, because conducting an environmental review just prolongs bottlenecks.
Washington Examiner
As Howard points out, current laws impose “a jungle of red tape.” For example, on the proposal to raise the Bayonne Bridge, which currently blocks the supertankers coming through the enlarged Panama Canal, it includes the following: “a requirement to study historic buildings within a two-mile radius even though the project touched no buildings; notice to Native American tribes around the country to participate even though the project would not be disturbing any new ground; and 47 permits from 19 different agencies. The environmental review for this project — again, a project with virtually no environmental impact — was 20,000 pages, including appendices. Proceeding on an expedited timetable, permits were finally awarded after five years. Then some self-styled environmentalists sued claiming … you guessed it, “inadequate review.” The Port Authority started construction anyway, and hopes to complete the project in 2019, 10 years after the application was filed.”
As Howard points out, current laws impose "a jungle of red tape." For example, on the proposal to raise the Bayonne Bridge, which currently blocks the supertankers coming through the enlarged Panama Canal, it includes the following: "a requirement to study historic buildings within a two-mile radius even though the project touched no buildings; notice to Native American tribes around the country to participate even though the project would not be disturbing any new ground; and 47 permits from 19 different agencies. The environmental review for this project — again, a project with virtually no environmental impact — was 20,000 pages, including appendices. Proceeding on an expedited timetable, permits were finally awarded after five years. Then some self-styled environmentalists sued claiming ... you guessed it, "inadequate review." The Port Authority started construction anyway, and hopes to complete the project in 2019, 10 years after the application was filed."
New York Daily News
Every time you’re in a traffic jam — starting, say, this afternoon — think about Congress. It created a paralytic regulatory structure that prevents fixing infrastructure. Now it also refuses to help pay for it. Only Congress can cut these bureaucratic knots, raise funds, and get America moving again.
Every time you're in a traffic jam — starting, say, this afternoon — think about Congress. It created a paralytic regulatory structure that prevents fixing infrastructure. Now it also refuses to help pay for it. Only Congress can cut these bureaucratic knots, raise funds, and get America moving again.
Daily Beast
Infrastructure is a kind of canary in the mine of democracy. Everyone says they want infrastructure, but there’s no movement. That’s because dense bureaucracy, by stifling any capacity to deliver projects in a reasonable time frame, has removed the oxygen of democracy. A congressional leader might be more amenable to funding infrastructure if he knows that his district’s stretch of Interstate 80 will get a new lane next year. What Washington needs is what every successful business has: a hierarchy of responsibility that allows responsible people to hammer out accommodations and start making decisions again.
Infrastructure is a kind of canary in the mine of democracy. Everyone says they want infrastructure, but there’s no movement. That’s because dense bureaucracy, by stifling any capacity to deliver projects in a reasonable time frame, has removed the oxygen of democracy. A congressional leader might be more amenable to funding infrastructure if he knows that his district’s stretch of Interstate 80 will get a new lane next year. What Washington needs is what every successful business has: a hierarchy of responsibility that allows responsible people to hammer out accommodations and start making decisions again.
Economist
Yet regulation does cause some visible problems. Infrastructure projects are frequently bogged down in endless environmental reviews and consultations. An example is a project to upgrade the Bayonne Bridge, which spectacularly arches between Staten Island and New Jersey. Elevating the road so that bigger cargo ships could pass underneath required 47 permits from 19 different government entities, according to Philip Howard, a legal writer. Regulators demanded a historical survey of every building within two miles of the bridge, even though the project affected none of them. It took from 2009 to mid-2013, when building at last began, to satisfy all the regulatory requirements.
Yet regulation does cause some visible problems. Infrastructure projects are frequently bogged down in endless environmental reviews and consultations. An example is a project to upgrade the Bayonne Bridge, which spectacularly arches between Staten Island and New Jersey. Elevating the road so that bigger cargo ships could pass underneath required 47 permits from 19 different government entities, according to Philip Howard, a legal writer. Regulators demanded a historical survey of every building within two miles of the bridge, even though the project affected none of them. It took from 2009 to mid-2013, when building at last began, to satisfy all the regulatory requirements.
Daily Beast
Donald Trump has a mandate to clean out the mess in Washington. Cutting waste is critical. This golden opportunity may fail, however, if the Trump administration starts a culture war by defunding EPA and other agencies popular with liberals, while leaving most waste untouched. There’s no need to stall on take-off: Washington’s waste pile is so high that President Trump could energize the economy by bulldozing bureaucracy that serves no public purpose.
Wall Street Journal
Any significant new infrastructure-spending package would have to clear Congress. And executive orders alone won’t do much to change a well-entrenched four-decade-old regulatory process, said Philip Howard, chairman of Common Good, a think tank favoring looser federal regulation. The White House didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Any significant new infrastructure-spending package would have to clear Congress. And executive orders alone won’t do much to change a well-entrenched four-decade-old regulatory process, said Philip Howard, chairman of Common Good, a think tank favoring looser federal regulation. The White House didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Wall Street Journal
Overhauling the civil service must be the cornerstone of any serious effort to fix broken government. Regulatory reform is otherwise impossible. What replaces red tape? People. Scrapping mindless rules requires empowering humans to take responsibility for results. Real choices—say, to focus environmental review on material impacts—can be practical again. Thick rule books could be replaced by pamphlets. But no one wants to give officials flexibility to use common sense unless they also can be held accountable when they are incompetent or mean-spirited.
Overhauling the civil service must be the cornerstone of any serious effort to fix broken government. Regulatory reform is otherwise impossible. What replaces red tape? People. Scrapping mindless rules requires empowering humans to take responsibility for results. Real choices—say, to focus environmental review on material impacts—can be practical again. Thick rule books could be replaced by pamphlets. But no one wants to give officials flexibility to use common sense unless they also can be held accountable when they are incompetent or mean-spirited.
American Interest
America needs to remake government for the 21st century. The only path forward is to return to constitutional first principles and, by Executive Order, create a civil service system that restores the authority of the President and Federal supervisors to manage public employees. Restoring accountability up the chain of responsibility is no silver bullet, but it will allow public executives to rebuild an energetic and responsive public culture. Instead of being bogged down in employee entitlements, government can once again work for the American people.
America needs to remake government for the 21st century. The only path forward is to return to constitutional first principles and, by Executive Order, create a civil service system that restores the authority of the President and Federal supervisors to manage public employees. Restoring accountability up the chain of responsibility is no silver bullet, but it will allow public executives to rebuild an energetic and responsive public culture. Instead of being bogged down in employee entitlements, government can once again work for the American people.
Inc.
“When you are talking about 100,000 regulations in the federal government, many of which have many facets to them, it would take hundreds of years to clean them up, using that technique,” he said of the two-for-one formula. “These are approaches to reducing the future burden. What hasn’t happened yet is a coherent approach to lifting the burden we have now.”
"When you are talking about 100,000 regulations in the federal government, many of which have many facets to them, it would take hundreds of years to clean them up, using that technique," he said of the two-for-one formula. "These are approaches to reducing the future burden. What hasn't happened yet is a coherent approach to lifting the burden we have now."
Washington Examiner
The requirements for environmental review are enormously lengthy and therefore expensive — and don’t do much if anything for the environment. So get rid of them. Set a time limit on any review, and have the project go ahead if it is not met. Philip Howard of Common Good has been especially eloquent on this subject. The incompetence of public sector bureaucracies, so visible on the California high-speed rail, means that alternative arrangements need to be found.
The requirements for environmental review are enormously lengthy and therefore expensive — and don't do much if anything for the environment. So get rid of them. Set a time limit on any review, and have the project go ahead if it is not met. Philip Howard of Common Good has been especially eloquent on this subject. The incompetence of public sector bureaucracies, so visible on the California high-speed rail, means that alternative arrangements need to be found.
Right of Way
Two new rail tunnels need to be built under the Hudson River to alleviate a critical rail bottleneck and permit overhaul of century-old tunnels. The purpose of this report is to outline the economic and environmental costs of different permitting timetables, and to propose approval mechanisms that will save taxpayers billions and avoid significant environmental harm.
Two new rail tunnels need to be built under the Hudson River to alleviate a critical rail bottleneck and permit overhaul of century-old tunnels. The purpose of this report is to outline the economic and environmental costs of different permitting timetables, and to propose approval mechanisms that will save taxpayers billions and avoid significant environmental harm.
Washington Post
Red-tape reformers have failed because they assume the problem is a matter of degree — that there are just too many rules. Liberals stride into the red-tape jungle with pruning shears, and find themselves entangled in the internal logic of the rules. Conservatives get cheers for demanding deregulation, but when push comes to shove, voters don’t want to drink polluted water, eat spoiled food or entrust loved ones to the unsupervised care of strangers in day-care centers and nursing homes. That’s why the regulatory state grew, not shrank, in the 20 years of Reagan and two Bush presidencies.
Red-tape reformers have failed because they assume the problem is a matter of degree — that there are just too many rules. Liberals stride into the red-tape jungle with pruning shears, and find themselves entangled in the internal logic of the rules. Conservatives get cheers for demanding deregulation, but when push comes to shove, voters don’t want to drink polluted water, eat spoiled food or entrust loved ones to the unsupervised care of strangers in day-care centers and nursing homes. That’s why the regulatory state grew, not shrank, in the 20 years of Reagan and two Bush presidencies.
American Interest
Americans now have an historic opportunity to reimagine government. The key is to abandon the centralized operating philosophy which, in thousand-page rulebooks, purports to tell everybody how to do everything. Government must still protect against abuse—otherwise freedom will be destroyed by bad actors just as surely as it is by suffocating bureaucracy. But government can protect freedom by adopting an oversight role that guards against abuses rather than micromanaging daily choices.
Fortune
Howard became alerted to the dysfunction of modern government in the early 1990s through his volunteer work in civic affairs. Since then he has written four books assailing over-legalization and founded a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization called Common Good to advocate reform—enlisting in his projects retired politicians from both the left and the right, including former senators Bill Bradley and Alan Simpson and former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. Howard has appeared on The Daily Show, given a TED talk that has gotten more than half-a-million views, been a special adviser to the SEC on regulatory reform, and worked with Al Gore on his “reinventing government” project.
Howard became alerted to the dysfunction of modern government in the early 1990s through his volunteer work in civic affairs. Since then he has written four books assailing over-legalization and founded a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization called Common Good to advocate reform—enlisting in his projects retired politicians from both the left and the right, including former senators Bill Bradley and Alan Simpson and former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. Howard has appeared on The Daily Show, given a TED talk that has gotten more than half-a-million views, been a special adviser to the SEC on regulatory reform, and worked with Al Gore on his “reinventing government” project.
Daily Beast
New York Times
“Candidates Agree on One Thing: Infrastructure” (front page, Sept. 19) notes a rare point of agreement between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump: to spend at least $250 billion fixing America’s decrepit infrastructure. The main hurdle is not financing, however, but red tape. Congress funded an $800 billion stimulus plan in 2009, and five years later only $30 billion had been spent on transportation infrastructure. As President Obama put it, “There’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects.”
“Candidates Agree on One Thing: Infrastructure” (front page, Sept. 19) notes a rare point of agreement between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump: to spend at least $250 billion fixing America’s decrepit infrastructure.
The main hurdle is not financing, however, but red tape. Congress funded an $800 billion stimulus plan in 2009, and five years later only $30 billion had been spent on transportation infrastructure. As President Obama put it, “There’s no such thing as shovel-ready projects.”
Wall Street Journal
Common Good, the nonprofit of which I am chairman, has a clear, bipartisan plan for fixing broken government: Simplify regulation so that individual responsibility, not rote bureaucracy, is the organizing principle of government. Laws should set goals and guiding principles, with clear lines of authority. Simple frameworks will be sufficient, in most areas, to replace thousands of pages of micro-regulation.
Common Good, the nonprofit of which I am chairman, has a clear, bipartisan plan for fixing broken government: Simplify regulation so that individual responsibility, not rote bureaucracy, is the organizing principle of government. Laws should set goals and guiding principles, with clear lines of authority. Simple frameworks will be sufficient, in most areas, to replace thousands of pages of micro-regulation.
Daily Beast
Public discourse is a cacophony because the words don’t matter. There’s no decision-maker to persuade or to hold you accountable. The disappearance of authority was no accident. After the 1960s, we reorganized government to avoid fallible human judgment by replacing human authority with thick rulebooks. That’s why government is a tangle of red tape where no one can do much of anything. Critical infrastructure projects languish on drawing boards because no official has authority to give a permit. Schools are chaotic because teachers must prove in a due process hearing that Johnny threw the punch. In government without human authority, irresponsible actions have few consequences, and irresponsible words have no consequences. Yell, hiss, lie… whatever.
Weekly Standard
Such are the thoughts any reader might have while enjoying Abby W. Schachter’s timely exposé of public intrusion into private childrearing. Like David Harsanyi’s Nanny State and Philip K. Howard’s The Rule of Nobody—two predecessors credited by Schachter in her bibliography—No Child Left Alonecombines a readable tone with moral outrage at the absurd-ities of overbearing governance. Whereas Harsanyi and Howard aim broadly, however, Schachter examines the specific interplay of family and state: of children, parents, and the “village” doing its damnedest to get between them.
Such are the thoughts any reader might have while enjoying Abby W. Schachter's timely exposé of public intrusion into private childrearing. Like David Harsanyi's Nanny State and Philip K. Howard's The Rule of Nobody—two predecessors credited by Schachter in her bibliography—No Child Left Alonecombines a readable tone with moral outrage at the absurd-ities of overbearing governance. Whereas Harsanyi and Howard aim broadly, however, Schachter examines the specific interplay of family and state: of children, parents, and the "village" doing its damnedest to get between them.
Washington Post
“My experience is that bureaucracy responds to public ridicule,” Philip K. Howard, who chairs Common Good, said in an interview Thursday. “You make fun of stupid decisions, or stupid inaction.”
Huffington Post
Something basic is missing in this season of political anger—a vision for how to fix broken government. Without a clear vision for change, the inertial forces of Washington will win again. Four years from now, voters will be even angrier.
Inc.
On this particular day in March, Howard has invited some entrepreneurs from the Inc. 5000--our annual ranking of America's fastest-growing private companies--to his midtown Manhattan office to share their experiences coping with regulation. Leventhal is especially vocal. His company spends a lot of money buying grapes from Sonoma and Napa, California, and he wants to trumpet that fact. But, as he explains, the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau requires vintners that obtain grapes from "noncontiguous" states and include that information on their labels "to limit sales of wine produced with those grapes to the state in which that wine is produced"--in his case, New York. This rule exists, suggests Howard, to protect vested interests. But, he adds, "it looks like [rules governing the wine industry] exist only because someone made them up that way 80 years ago."
New York Times
If just one of the two tunnels has to be shut down, which could happen at any time, it means train traffic will have to be reduced not by half, but by 75 percent, from 24 trains per hour to six. That’s because the sole remaining tunnel will have to be used for two-way traffic, and time will be lost in reversing signals, according to “Billions for Red Tape: Focusing on the Approval Process for the Gateway Tunnel Project,” a report from the Common Good, a group that advocates the reform of government processes.
Common Good
Two new rail tunnels need to be built under the Hudson River to alleviate a critical rail bottleneck and permit overhaul of century-old tunnels. The purpose of this report is to outline the economic and environmental costs of di erent permitting timetables, and to propose approval mechanisms that will save taxpayers billions and avoid signi cant environmental harm. This report supplements our earlier report released in September 2015, “Two Years, Not Ten Years: Redesigning Infrastructure Approvals,” available at www.commongood.org.
Las Vegas Review-Journal
It’s tres chic these days to lament Washington partisanship along with the ensuing gridlock and congressional inertia. But such hand-wringing ignores the nation’s robust bureaucratic apparatus and the energetic regulatory state it administers. In fact, writes Philip K. Howard in an April 2 commentary for The Wall Street Journal, “The buildup of federal law since World War II has been massive – about 15 fold.” And that, he posits, shackles American competitiveness, undermines infrastructure development and stifles entrepreneurialism. “Bad laws trap daily decisions in legal concrete and are largely responsible for the U.S. government’s clunky ineptitude.”
It’s tres chic these days to lament Washington partisanship along with the ensuing gridlock and congressional inertia. But such hand-wringing ignores the nation’s robust bureaucratic apparatus and the energetic regulatory state it administers. In fact, writes Philip K. Howard in an April 2 commentary for The Wall Street Journal, “The buildup of federal law since World War II has been massive – about 15 fold.” And that, he posits, shackles American competitiveness, undermines infrastructure development and stifles entrepreneurialism. “Bad laws trap daily decisions in legal concrete and are largely responsible for the U.S. government’s clunky ineptitude.”
Wall Street Journal
What’s broken is American law—a man-made mountain of outdated statutes and regulations. Bad laws trap daily decisions in legal concrete and are largely responsible for the U.S. government’s clunky ineptitude. The villain here is Congress—a lazy institution that postures instead of performing its constitutional job to make sure that our laws actually work. All laws have unintended negative consequences, but Congress accepts old programs as if they were immortal. The buildup of federal law since World War II has been massive—about 15-fold. The failure of Congress to adapt old laws to new realities predictably causes public programs to fail in significant ways.
What’s broken is American law—a man-made mountain of outdated statutes and regulations. Bad laws trap daily decisions in legal concrete and are largely responsible for the U.S. government’s clunky ineptitude. The villain here is Congress—a lazy institution that postures instead of performing its constitutional job to make sure that our laws actually work. All laws have unintended negative consequences, but Congress accepts old programs as if they were immortal. The buildup of federal law since World War II has been massive—about 15-fold. The failure of Congress to adapt old laws to new realities predictably causes public programs to fail in significant ways.
Industry Week
To best maintain sanity and perspective amidst all of this noise, one would be well served to visit Philip K. Howard’s The Rule of Nobody. A thoroughly non-partisan work, Howard takes an unvarnished look at why no official in the American government really has the authority to make a decision alone.
To best maintain sanity and perspective amidst all of this noise, one would be well served to visit Philip K. Howard’s The Rule of Nobody. A thoroughly non-partisan work, Howard takes an unvarnished look at why no official in the American government really has the authority to make a decision alone.
Democracy
Crucially, Howard contends, there’s a vacuum of political authority at the top. In our balkanized bureaucracies, no agency or official has the power to settle disagreements among agencies, telescope the regulatory gauntlet or otherwise make the ultimate decision to move projects forward.
Crucially, Howard contends, there’s a vacuum of political authority at the top. In our balkanized bureaucracies, no agency or official has the power to settle disagreements among agencies, telescope the regulatory gauntlet or otherwise make the ultimate decision to move projects forward.
Real Change News
Take any problem facing our society today,” Philip K. Howard challenges, “and ask yourself, who has the authority to fix it? The answer is nobody.” The courts are backed up 10 years, it takes as long to complete an environmental review, billions of our tax dollars are being squandered due to laws written by people long dead, and millions more of those dollars go to subsidizing unhealthy foods. Government dysfunction is not news, but Howard’s book, “The Rule of Nobody,” endeavors to explore the real reason behind the partisan gridlock and special-interest factions we’ve all come to expect and even participate in, most notably during major elections.
Take any problem facing our society today,” Philip K. Howard challenges, “and ask yourself, who has the authority to fix it? The answer is nobody.” The courts are backed up 10 years, it takes as long to complete an environmental review, billions of our tax dollars are being squandered due to laws written by people long dead, and millions more of those dollars go to subsidizing unhealthy foods. Government dysfunction is not news, but Howard’s book, “The Rule of Nobody,” endeavors to explore the real reason behind the partisan gridlock and special-interest factions we’ve all come to expect and even participate in, most notably during major elections.
The Oklahoman
“With strong leadership, the nation can get there,” Howard writes. “If the Democrats cut waste and the Republicans provide funding, Americans will have better rules and better roads.” It’s a big wish, certainly. But this is a big problem, one that is sure to grow in scope if business as usual remains the order of the day.
“With strong leadership, the nation can get there,” Howard writes. “If the Democrats cut waste and the Republicans provide funding, Americans will have better rules and better roads.” It's a big wish, certainly. But this is a big problem, one that is sure to grow in scope if business as usual remains the order of the day.
CapX
In his latest piece for The Atlantic Magazine, chairman of the reform coalition Common GoodPhilip K. Howard writes about the need for a negotiated bargain between Congressional Democrats and Republicans to reform and pay for needed infrastructure repair. Howard, who has written persuasively and often about the need for common sense regulatory and judicial reform in books such as “The Rule of Nobody” and “The Death of Common Sense”, discussed the problem of dogmatic fidelity to bureaucratic process and a total lack of decision-making authority among the decision-makers with CapX American editor Abby W. Schachter.
In his latest piece for The Atlantic Magazine, chairman of the reform coalition Common GoodPhilip K. Howard writes about the need for a negotiated bargain between Congressional Democrats and Republicans to reform and pay for needed infrastructure repair. Howard, who has written persuasively and often about the need for common sense regulatory and judicial reform in books such as “The Rule of Nobody” and “The Death of Common Sense”, discussed the problem of dogmatic fidelity to bureaucratic process and a total lack of decision-making authority among the decision-makers with CapX American editor Abby W. Schachter.
Public Administration Review
To fix government, we must restore human responsibility as its operating mechanism. Today, without accountability, government is a giant machine that moves by inertia, enforcing laws and imposing constraints without human control, in ways that often bear no connection to public goals. Its semi-successes are achieved not because of this organizational structure, but in spite of it.
The Atlantic
There’s a way to break the logjam caused by a lack of needed funding and an overabundance of process. Conservatives concerned about wasteful government should agree to raise taxes to fund infrastructure if liberals agree to abandon the bureaucratic tangle that causes the waste. This deal will cut critical infrastructure costs in half, enhance America’s environmental footprint, and boost the economy.
There’s a way to break the logjam caused by a lack of needed funding and an overabundance of process. Conservatives concerned about wasteful government should agree to raise taxes to fund infrastructure if liberals agree to abandon the bureaucratic tangle that causes the waste. This deal will cut critical infrastructure costs in half, enhance America’s environmental footprint, and boost the economy.
Ripon Forum
The cure to runaway government is structural, not ideological. Congress must change its rules to reassert control over existing law. This should be approached not as a partisan battle of big government vs. small government, but as restoring the foundation of democratic responsibility.
The cure to runaway government is structural, not ideological. Congress must change its rules to reassert control over existing law. This should be approached not as a partisan battle of big government vs. small government, but as restoring the foundation of democratic responsibility.
Wall Street Journal
As policy analyst Philip K. Howard noted earlier this year in a landmark report, Western democracies such as Germany and Canada generally grant permits—including environmental reviews—for major infrastructure projects in two years or less. They accomplish this by establishing clear lines of authority and consolidated decision-making, in sharp contrast to the fragmented U.S. system wherein an aggrieved group can thwart decisions for years.
As policy analyst Philip K. Howard noted earlier this year in a landmark report, Western democracies such as Germany and Canada generally grant permits—including environmental reviews—for major infrastructure projects in two years or less. They accomplish this by establishing clear lines of authority and consolidated decision-making, in sharp contrast to the fragmented U.S. system wherein an aggrieved group can thwart decisions for years.
Washington Post
Most Americans believe that government is broken. So it’s hardly surprising that outsiders Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina are doing well in the Republican nominating contest. They represent a break from the status quo. Trump especially stands out because he’s so colorfully disdainful of almost everything and everyone in government. But voters should pause before placing their hopes in the personality of a strong person at the top: It will not work if he or she doesn’t have a coherent plan to unclog the gears of the government machinery underneath.
Most Americans believe that government is broken. So it’s hardly surprising that outsiders Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina are doing well in the Republican nominating contest. They represent a break from the status quo. Trump especially stands out because he’s so colorfully disdainful of almost everything and everyone in government.
But voters should pause before placing their hopes in the personality of a strong person at the top: It will not work if he or she doesn’t have a coherent plan to unclog the gears of the government machinery underneath.Huffington Post
The dynamic of delay is easy to understand. Every project has some harmful side effects. A desalination plant produces a briny byproduct. A wind farm mars nature views. A third rail tunnel under the Hudson will require huge digging and will dislocate people on the approach routes. Any group that doesn’t like a project, or prefers it to be redesigned, can raise numerous issues, and threaten litigate if not satisfied. Years go by as participants tiptoe through a legal minefield. Meanwhile, bottlenecks and obsolete plants spew pollution into our air and water.
The dynamic of delay is easy to understand. Every project has some harmful side effects. A desalination plant produces a briny byproduct. A wind farm mars nature views. A third rail tunnel under the Hudson will require huge digging and will dislocate people on the approach routes. Any group that doesn't like a project, or prefers it to be redesigned, can raise numerous issues, and threaten litigate if not satisfied. Years go by as participants tiptoe through a legal minefield. Meanwhile, bottlenecks and obsolete plants spew pollution into our air and water.
Common Good
Modernizing America’s aging infrastructure is vital to our nation’s future. There are two components to this initiative: money and permits. This report focuses on America’s paralytic permitting system. We propose a dramatic reduction of red tape so that infrastructure can be approved in two years or less, not, often, ten years. This can be accomplished by consolidating decisions within a simpli ed framework with deadlines and clear lines of accountability.
Governing
“Nothing today is politically feasible. Nothing,” writes Philip K. Howard in The Rule of Nobody: Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government. While his book veers into occasional hyperbole, its overall premise is sound: The proliferation of laws and regulations that attempt to spell out precisely what public officials must do in every conceivable situation makes it increasingly difficult for them to get anything done and coincidentally weakens their moral authority.
“Nothing today is politically feasible. Nothing,” writes Philip K. Howard in The Rule of Nobody: Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government. While his book veers into occasional hyperbole, its overall premise is sound: The proliferation of laws and regulations that attempt to spell out precisely what public officials must do in every conceivable situation makes it increasingly difficult for them to get anything done and coincidentally weakens their moral authority.
Forbes
“What has happened by accident is that the legal approval system has evolved to be so complicated that any person who doesn’t like a project can exercise a legal veto,” says Philip K. Howard, whose new book, The Rule of Nobody, documents the madness. The effect, Howard says, is “bureaucratic mental illness.” It’s the kind of sickness that now threatens a country that was once defined by advancement and progress.
Albany Times Union
“But listen to Philip K. Howard, and it might not seem like such a stretch. He’s a New York City-based advocate for legal reform who has appeared on ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ and has authored several books, including ‘The Collapse of the Common Good,’ that detail how litigation fears affect our lives. “‘Somehow or another in the last couple of decades, the land of the free has become a legal minefield,’ Howard says in a TED Talk available online. ‘It’s sort of changed our lives in ways that are sort of imperceptible, and yet when you pull back you see it all the time.’ Howard uses playgrounds as an example. All it takes, he says, is a few people to sue over, say, seesaws before they disappear entirely, because no municipality will want to risk even the threat of a lawsuit. “‘And that’s what has happened,’ Howard says. ‘There are no more seesaws, jungle gyms, merry-go-rounds or climbing ropes — nothing that would interest a kid over the age of 4.’”
“But listen to Philip K. Howard, and it might not seem like such a stretch. He's a New York City-based advocate for legal reform who has appeared on ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ and has authored several books, including ‘The Collapse of the Common Good,’ that detail how litigation fears affect our lives. "‘Somehow or another in the last couple of decades, the land of the free has become a legal minefield,’ Howard says in a TED Talk available online. ‘It's sort of changed our lives in ways that are sort of imperceptible, and yet when you pull back you see it all the time.’
The Government We Deserve
In his acclaimed book The Rule of Nobody, Philip K. Howard similarly argues that the president must have executive powers restored, to be able to avoid wasteful duplication and unnecessary bureaucracy, to expedite important public works, to refuse to spend allocated funds when circumstances change and the expenditure becomes wasteful, and to reorganize executive agencies.
In his acclaimed book The Rule of Nobody, Philip K. Howard similarly argues that the president must have executive powers restored, to be able to avoid wasteful duplication and unnecessary bureaucracy, to expedite important public works, to refuse to spend allocated funds when circumstances change and the expenditure becomes wasteful, and to reorganize executive agencies.
New York Daily News
New York City’s infrastructure is old. Rail tunnels were built over a century ago. One in three bridges needs major work. The useful life of some of these vital links cannot survive a decade of legal micromanagement before construction even begins. The system of red tape must be scrapped. Officials need a new legal framework for making responsible decisions in a certain timeframe.
Washington Post
Modernizing infrastructure requires money and permits. Congress needs to create a long-term funding plan and radically reduce the red tape that drives up costs and ensnarls projects in their infancy.
Government Executive
Its convenor was Philip K. Howard, founder of Common Good, a partner at Covington and the author of “The Rule of Nobody,” whose provocative thesis holds that our economy suffers because no one in or out of government has the power to make crucial decisions. Infrastructure offers a prime case in point, requiring, as Howard said, two key inputs: money and permits.
Shopfloor (National Association of Manufacturers)
Mr. Howard is a change-agent, a reformer seeking to address broken governing structures, whether it’s our legal system or federal agencies charged with approving critically important infrastructure projects that will grow the economy and improve the environment. The Rule of Nobody, a book he authored last year, makes the case that big change needs to occur not only in Washington, but also in our culture. Authority, accountability and human responsibility are currently absent from the social equation.
MetalMiner
“It’s a multi-headed federal bureaucracy that we have,” Howard said. “The problem with their bill is the CPO doesn’t have any authority. He can’t lean on one unreasonable agency if it’s holding up a project. There needs to be a dialectic here. If any one of 19 different agencies involved (in the Bayonne Bridge project in New Jersey) decides it’s going to dig in its heels in, there is no alternative but to give in to what they want. That feeds the paralysis. There needs to be a presumptive authority somewhere. There needs to be someone who can cut through that. If that authority is too high-handed that won’t work, either. You want an incentive for everyone to be reasonable and agree to make decisions within a reasonable timeline.”
“It’s a multi-headed federal bureaucracy that we have,” Howard said. “The problem with their bill is the CPO doesn’t have any authority. He can’t lean on one unreasonable agency if it’s holding up a project. There needs to be a dialectic here. If any one of 19 different agencies involved (in the Bayonne Bridge project in New Jersey) decides it’s going to dig in its heels in, there is no alternative but to give in to what they want. That feeds the paralysis. There needs to be a presumptive authority somewhere. There needs to be someone who can cut through that. If that authority is too high-handed that won’t work, either. You want an incentive for everyone to be reasonable and agree to make decisions within a reasonable timeline.”
MetalMiner
Philip K. Howard, Chairman of Common Good, an organization that seeks to streamline government bureaucracy, recently wrote in The Daily Beast that even with funding, “no government body has the ability to approve the work or to build it in a commercially reasonable way.”
Philip K. Howard, Chairman of Common Good, an organization that seeks to streamline government bureaucracy, recently wrote in The Daily Beast that even with funding, “no government body has the ability to approve the work or to build it in a commercially reasonable way.”
Wall Street Journal
Mr. Summers’s main prescription for how to encourage growth in the short term and long term is more infrastructure spending, whose economic value should easily exceed current low borrowing costs. This is clearly right when it comes to repairing many of our country’s crumbling bridges–fixes that are long overdue–but Mr. Summers ignores two problems with the idea. One is the critique of any attempt to use infrastructure spending as a counter-cyclical policy: the lengthy environmental and other regulatory hurdles that any new road project must clear, which Philip Howard documents extensively in his book “The Rule of Nobody.”
Mr. Summers’s main prescription for how to encourage growth in the short term and long term is more infrastructure spending, whose economic value should easily exceed current low borrowing costs. This is clearly right when it comes to repairing many of our country’s crumbling bridges–fixes that are long overdue–but Mr. Summers ignores two problems with the idea. One is the critique of any attempt to use infrastructure spending as a counter-cyclical policy: the lengthy environmental and other regulatory hurdles that any new road project must clear, which Philip Howard documents extensively in his book “The Rule of Nobody.”
The Daily Beast
Even with funding, no government body has the ability to approve the work or to build it in a commercially reasonable way. Red tape is so dense that even obvious fix-it projects require years of review. Raising the roadway of the New Jersey-to-New York Bayonne Bridge, for example, was a project with almost no environmental impact, because it used the bridge’s existing foundations and right of way. But it still required 47 permits from 19 government agencies, and a 5,000-page environmental assessment.
Even with funding, no government body has the ability to approve the work or to build it in a commercially reasonable way. Red tape is so dense that even obvious fix-it projects require years of review. Raising the roadway of the New Jersey-to-New York Bayonne Bridge, for example, was a project with almost no environmental impact, because it used the bridge’s existing foundations and right of way. But it still required 47 permits from 19 government agencies, and a 5,000-page environmental assessment.
Alfred University
In his aptly titled book , The Rule of Nobody (2014), Philip K. Howard examines the deterioration of values and authority in contemporary American culture. He chronicles the attempts of legislatures to compensate for the moral vacuum in American public policy by enacting detailed legislation, thinking that the greater the detail the more likely that national goals will be met. The problem, of course, has been that legislation must be implemented and that implementing agencies have taken refuge in process. Procedures have replaced individual judgment, and, most important, this moral neutrality, perhaps impotence would be a better term, has led to egregious examples of outright stupidity, if not tragedy. In Howard’s words, “The philosophy of neutral rules pushed society another giant step toward immorality by basically abandoning any pretense of moral responsibility. Just go by the book.”
In his aptly titled book , The Rule of Nobody (2014), Philip K. Howard examines the deterioration of values and authority in contemporary American culture. He chronicles the attempts of legislatures to compensate for the moral vacuum in American public policy by enacting detailed legislation, thinking that the greater the detail the more likely that national goals will be met. The problem, of course, has been that legislation must be implemented and that implementing agencies have taken refuge in process. Procedures have replaced individual judgment, and, most important, this moral neutrality, perhaps impotence would be a better term, has led to egregious examples of outright stupidity, if not tragedy. In Howard’s words, “The philosophy of neutral rules pushed society another giant step toward immorality by basically abandoning any pretense of moral responsibility. Just go by the book.”
TIME
This would be a good argument to have in 2016. It is a fundamental challenge to what the Democrats have allowed themselves to become: the party of government workers rather than a defender of the working-, middle-class majority. Bush has already drawn fire for his record as an education reformer, with his support for charter schools and educational standards. But his argument goes beyond that to a more fundamental critique of government. He has praised the work of Philip K. Howard, whose book, The Rule of Nobody, is a road map for de-lawyering and rethinking the regulatory system.
This would be a good argument to have in 2016. It is a fundamental challenge to what the Democrats have allowed themselves to become: the party of government workers rather than a defender of the working-, middle-class majority. Bush has already drawn fire for his record as an education reformer, with his support for charter schools and educational standards. But his argument goes beyond that to a more fundamental critique of government. He has praised the work of Philip K. Howard, whose book, The Rule of Nobody, is a road map for de-lawyering and rethinking the regulatory system.
The Fiscal Times
Starting today, The Fiscal Times launches the “Reboot America” project, a year-long conversation that will bring together some of the smartest minds from around the country to explore ways to reshape the U.S. government into the set of systems and institutions its citizens need to endure and thrive.
Starting today, The Fiscal Times launches the “Reboot America” project, a year-long conversation that will bring together some of the smartest minds from around the country to explore ways to reshape the U.S. government into the set of systems and institutions its citizens need to endure and thrive.
The Advocate
[Mayor] Landrieu’s expressed goals match a growing national awareness, as explained by best-selling author and efficiency-reform advocate Philip K. Howard, that organizations operate more effectively when they combine flexibility with accountability rather than relying on strict, voluminous rules.
[Mayor] Landrieu’s expressed goals match a growing national awareness, as explained by best-selling author and efficiency-reform advocate Philip K. Howard, that organizations operate more effectively when they combine flexibility with accountability rather than relying on strict, voluminous rules.
The Pitt News
Attorney Philip K. Howard’s 1994 book, “The Death of Common Sense,” discusses the harmful nature of an overly regulated society. He calls for a return to greater human discretion in our regulatory and legal system. More than 20 years later, his message is as important as ever.
Attorney Philip K. Howard’s 1994 book, “The Death of Common Sense,” discusses the harmful nature of an overly regulated society. He calls for a return to greater human discretion in our regulatory and legal system.
More than 20 years later, his message is as important as ever.
The Daily Beast
In January 2014, a lifelong District of Columbia parks employee, Medric Mills, collapsed while walking with his grown daughter. They were across the street from a fire station, close enough for his daughter to yell for help. Mills was lying on the sidewalk, dying, right in front of people trained to save him. But they refused to cross the street to help because, they told bystanders, the rules required them instead to call 911. By the time the ambulance arrived, over 10 minutes later, it was too late—Mills died soon after arriving at the hospital.
In January 2014, a lifelong District of Columbia parks employee, Medric Mills, collapsed while walking with his grown daughter. They were across the street from a fire station, close enough for his daughter to yell for help. Mills was lying on the sidewalk, dying, right in front of people trained to save him. But they refused to cross the street to help because, they told bystanders, the rules required them instead to call 911. By the time the ambulance arrived, over 10 minutes later, it was too late—Mills died soon after arriving at the hospital.
The Daily Beast
No legislation will solve the real disease plaguing Washington, says Howard, who argues that there are too few people looking to lead and too many people hiding behind bureaucracy.
No legislation will solve the real disease plaguing Washington, says Howard, who argues that there are too few people looking to lead and too many people hiding behind bureaucracy.
Washington Post
A very interesting and thought-provoking essay by Philip K. Howard over at the Cato Institute, on the need for a radically simplified legal system.
A very interesting and thought-provoking essay by Philip K. Howard over at the Cato Institute, on the need for a radically simplified legal system.
Inc.
Why it’s important: Every entrepreneur is painfully aware that government regulation is burdensome and yet (if he or she has any brains) also realizes that there must be some sort of structure to prevent laissez-faire capitalism from running roughshod over the non-billionaires. This book explains that government regulation is not inherently counterproductive but is made that way by the constant creation of endless legalistic details. The solution is to create basic principles rather than detailed regulations and allow civil servants and citizens to apply common sense in order to implement those details.
Why it's important: Every entrepreneur is painfully aware that government regulation is burdensome and yet (if he or she has any brains) also realizes that there must be some sort of structure to prevent laissez-faire capitalism from running roughshod over the non-billionaires. This book explains that government regulation is not inherently counterproductive but is made that way by the constant creation of endless legalistic details. The solution is to create basic principles rather than detailed regulations and allow civil servants and citizens to apply common sense in order to implement those details.
Cato Institute
Modern America is the land of too much law. Like sediment in a harbor, law has steadily accumulated, mainly since the 1960s, until most productive activity requires slogging through a legal swamp.
Modern America is the land of too much law. Like sediment in a harbor, law has steadily accumulated, mainly since the 1960s, until most productive activity requires slogging through a legal swamp.
The Atlantic
The Veterans Affairs scandal of falsified waiting lists is the latest of a never-ending stream of government ineptitude. Every season brings a new headline of failures: the botched roll-out of Obamacare involved 55 uncoordinated IT vendors; a White House report in February found that barely 3 percent of the $800 billion stimulus plan went to rebuild transportation infrastructure; and a March Washington Post report describes how federal pensions are processed by hand in a deep cave in Pennsylvania.
The Veterans Affairs scandal of falsified waiting lists is the latest of a never-ending stream of government ineptitude. Every season brings a new headline of failures: the botched roll-out of Obamacare involved 55 uncoordinated IT vendors; a White House report in February found that barely 3 percent of the $800 billion stimulus plan went to rebuild transportation infrastructure; and a March Washington Post report describes how federal pensions are processed by hand in a deep cave in Pennsylvania.
New York Times
As recent books by Francis Fukuyama and Philip Howard have detailed, this is an era of general institutional decay.
As recent books by Francis Fukuyama and Philip Howard have detailed, this is an era of general institutional decay.
The Gerontologist
An extensive, complex regulatory regime has had its heyday hovering over the operation of nursing homes in the United States for the last three decades, and, by many accounts, the results in terms of quality of care and resident quality of life have been uncertain and disappointing.
An extensive, complex regulatory regime has had its heyday hovering over the operation of nursing homes in the United States for the last three decades, and, by many accounts, the results in terms of quality of care and resident quality of life have been uncertain and disappointing.
WSHU: NPR News
Joan Baum of Connecticut’s WSHU calls The Rule of Nobody “important and provocative.”
Joan Baum of Connecticut's WSHU calls The Rule of Nobody "important and provocative."
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Welcome to governing in 2014, when complex written rules are taking precedence over common sense in trying to solve complex health problems. In his new book, “The Rule of Nobody,” writer Philip K. Howard explains it this way: “Rules have replaced leadership in America. Bureaucracy, regulation and outmoded law tie our hands and confine policy choices. Nobody asks, ‘What’s the right thing to do here?’ Instead, they wonder ‘What does the rule book say?’ “
Welcome to governing in 2014, when complex written rules are taking precedence over common sense in trying to solve complex health problems. In his new book, "The Rule of Nobody," writer Philip K. Howard explains it this way: "Rules have replaced leadership in America. Bureaucracy, regulation and outmoded law tie our hands and confine policy choices. Nobody asks, 'What's the right thing to do here?' Instead, they wonder 'What does the rule book say?' "
City Journal
How far have we distorted the Constitution that the Founders gave us, and how much does it matter? A phalanx of recent books warns that we have undermined our fundamental law so recklessly that Americans should worry that government of the people, by the people, and for the people really could perish from the earth. The tomes—Adam Freedman’s engaging The Naked Constitution, Mark R. Levin’s impassioned The Liberty Amendments, Richard A. Epstein’s masterful The Classical Liberal Constitution, and Philip K. Howard’s eloquent and levelheaded The Rule of Nobody (in order of publication)—look at the question from different angles and offer different fixes to it, but all agree that Americans need to take action right now.
How far have we distorted the Constitution that the Founders gave us, and how much does it matter? A phalanx of recent books warns that we have undermined our fundamental law so recklessly that Americans should worry that government of the people, by the people, and for the people really could perish from the earth. The tomes—Adam Freedman’s engaging The Naked Constitution, Mark R. Levin’s impassioned The Liberty Amendments, Richard A. Epstein’s masterful The Classical Liberal Constitution, and Philip K. Howard’s eloquent and levelheaded The Rule of Nobody (in order of publication)—look at the question from different angles and offer different fixes to it, but all agree that Americans need to take action right now.
The University Bookman
It is obvious that the current system of government is failing—higher expenses, increased waste, and little (if any) improvement. Reaching viable solutions has also become much more difficult than expected. Yet Philip K. Howard, in his book, The Rule of Nobody, accepts this challenge; he outlines the origins of our broken government and offers some practical solutions.
It is obvious that the current system of government is failing—higher expenses, increased waste, and little (if any) improvement. Reaching viable solutions has also become much more difficult than expected. Yet Philip K. Howard, in his book, The Rule of Nobody, accepts this challenge; he outlines the origins of our broken government and offers some practical solutions.
Government Executive
As Philip Howard also observes in The Rule of Nobody, citizens who don’t particularly trust government aren’t of a mind to give it the power and resources that would enable successful, effective programs.
As Philip Howard also observes in The Rule of Nobody, citizens who don’t particularly trust government aren’t of a mind to give it the power and resources that would enable successful, effective programs.
Fiscal Times
Law is supposed to be the foundation of freedom. In a crowded, anonymous world, I believe we need more government oversight to make people feel free and to enhance society.
Law is supposed to be the foundation of freedom. In a crowded, anonymous world, I believe we need more government oversight to make people feel free and to enhance society.
Washington Examiner
Government just doesn’t work very well. That’s the persuasive thesis of three important books published this year…
Government just doesn’t work very well. That’s the persuasive thesis of three important books published this year...
The Fiscal Times
Reno Gazette-Journal
Lenore Skenazy discusses the absurdly minute rules, described in The Rule of Nobody, that prevent Kansas nursing home workers from doing their jobs effectively.
Lenore Skenazy discusses the absurdly minute rules, described in The Rule of Nobody, that prevent Kansas nursing home workers from doing their jobs effectively.
New Orleans Advocate
Quin Hillyer writes that Philip provides a strong rubric for civil service reform in Louisiana.
Quin Hillyer writes that Philip provides a strong rubric for civil service reform in Louisiana.
The Economist
Mr Howard’s new book…is a plea for America to embrace the same sort of broad, principles-based regulation, allowing officials and judges more leeway to use their discretion, common sense and compassion when enforcing the law.
Mr Howard’s new book...is a plea for America to embrace the same sort of broad, principles-based regulation, allowing officials and judges more leeway to use their discretion, common sense and compassion when enforcing the law.
American Spectator
Howard has written a splendid book, as entertaining as it is alarming, about a serious problem.
Washington Post
It’s time to stop taking Washington seriously. How likely is it that Congress will deal with unsustainable deficits, climate change, decrepit infrastructure, unaffordable health care, muddled immigration policy, obsolete laws, unmanageable civil service, rigged electoral districts . . . ? The list of failures of our democratic government is getting long. Responsible reform seems hopeless.
Washington Times
The argument is multifaceted, but much of it hinges on Mr. Howard’s dissent from the idea that modern legislation should be written with minute specificity, to describe not only the end goal of the law, but every step, every procedure, every detail along the way.
Bloomberg
Among Philip K. Howard’s several books, a favorite title of mine is “Life Without Lawyers: Restoring Responsibility in America.” If only! On they go, writing numbingly complex codes of conduct and regulations that delight control freaks and frustrate just about everyone else.
Wall Street Journal
Author and historian Amanda Foreman cites The Rule of Nobody in an essay on how justice suffers with too much law.
The Ledger (FL)
Employees, fearful of not complying with every regulation, pass decisions on to someone else who does the same. The problem: No one feels empowered to actually make a decision, based on the facts of the individual case, unless it fits neatly into a predetermined rule, which is unlikely.
Huffington Post
Human initiative, not rules, make the world go round. This is what conservatives believe, and they are right. Then why don't they see that the same truism applies to government? Government will never get fixed until humans within it are allowed the flexibility that goes along with taking responsibility.
Commentary
A good resource for those who want the more accurate picture is Philip K. Howard’s The Rule of Nobody, which takes aim at the reasons government has, on important issues, ground to a halt. Howard opens with the story of the Bayonne Bridge, which spans the channel that connects New York Harbor to the port of Newark, the largest on the East Coast.
The Weekly Standard
At least since his 1994 bestseller The Death of Common Sense, the New York lawyer, author, and founder/chairman of the reform group Common Good Philip K. Howard has been trying to rescue Americans from ever-denser laws, regulations, and litigation.
Providence Journal
The phrase “Bill of Responsibilities” gets to the heart of what Mr. Howard is saying throughout his book: that we have become so tangled up in laws and regulations that it’s often impossible to exercise authority and take responsibility...
The Daily Beast
In February 2011, during a winter storm, a tree fell into a creek in Franklin Township, New Jersey, and caused flooding. The town was about to send a tractor in to pull the tree out when someone, probably the town lawyer, helpfully pointed out that it was a “class C-1 creek” and required formal approvals before any natural condition was altered. The flooding continued while town officials spent 12 days and $12,000 to get a permit to do what was obvious: pull the tree out of the creek.
In February 2011, during a winter storm, a tree fell into a creek in Franklin Township, New Jersey, and caused flooding. The town was about to send a tractor in to pull the tree out when someone, probably the town lawyer, helpfully pointed out that it was a “class C-1 creek” and required formal approvals before any natural condition was altered. The flooding continued while town officials spent 12 days and $12,000 to get a permit to do what was obvious: pull the tree out of the creek.
Boston Globe
We’re so used to lawsuits, to confrontation, to the idea that only rules can keep people in line. But the fact that Howard’s clear, levelheaded descriptions of how things are done elsewhere come across as so unrealistic proves his point: We really need to figure out a better way to do operate, lest the country grind to a halt.
We’re so used to lawsuits, to confrontation, to the idea that only rules can keep people in line. But the fact that Howard’s clear, levelheaded descriptions of how things are done elsewhere come across as so unrealistic proves his point: We really need to figure out a better way to do operate, lest the country grind to a halt.
Boston Globe
The Rule of Nobody is cited by Jeff Jacoby in an article about how the “US legal bubble can't pop soon enough.”
New York Post
The Rule of Nobody "is a plea to get things done, and an explanation of why they aren’t."
The Rule of Nobody "is a plea to get things done, and an explanation of why they aren’t."
The Daily Beast
Nick Gillespie of The Daily Beast says The Rule of Nobody "helps to explain why government at all levels not only is on autopilot but on a flight path that can only end in disaster."
Nick Gillespie of The Daily Beast says The Rule of Nobody "helps to explain why government at all levels not only is on autopilot but on a flight path that can only end in disaster."
Wall Street Journal
Philip Howard “argues that the very structure of our democracy is…clogged by deep thickets of dysfunctional law.” The Rule of Nobody “drives home large truths.”
Philip Howard “argues that the very structure of our democracy is…clogged by deep thickets of dysfunctional law.” The Rule of Nobody “drives home large truths.”
Huffington Post
“Government gridlock is not merely a product of polarized leadership… The problem is more systemic, rooted in outdated laws and special interest money that make change difficult, if not impossible.”
“Government gridlock is not merely a product of polarized leadership… The problem is more systemic, rooted in outdated laws and special interest money that make change difficult, if not impossible.”
Huffington Post
Philip Howard's commentary on news stories, articles, and ideas of the day, published on the Huffington Post. Click "Continue reading" to view all Howard's Daily entries.
Wall Street Journal
Building new infrastructure would enhance U.S. global competitiveness, improve our environmental footprint and, according to McKinsey studies, generate almost two million jobs. But it is impossible to modernize America’s physical infrastructure until we modernize our legal infrastructure.
Building new infrastructure would enhance U.S. global competitiveness, improve our environmental footprint and, according to McKinsey studies, generate almost two million jobs. But it is impossible to modernize America's physical infrastructure until we modernize our legal infrastructure.
The Atlantic
No one would design the government we have now — a rusty pile of accumulated entitlements, endless forms and approvals, overlapping programs, and legal rights that allow any disgruntled person to throw a monkey wrench into almost any public decision.
No one would design the government we have now -- a rusty pile of accumulated entitlements, endless forms and approvals, overlapping programs, and legal rights that allow any disgruntled person to throw a monkey wrench into almost any public decision.
Wall Street Journal
Earlier this year, the Colorado Department of Human Services proposed new rules for day-care centers. Government oversight of day care seems like a good idea—you wouldn’t want children cooped up in an airless basement—but this proposal went far beyond basic health and safety. We need to replace today’s micromanagement with results-based regulation— simpler rules tied to the outcomes they produce. Harry Campbell The new rules would dictate exactly how to do just about everything: how many block sets (“at least two (2) … with a minimum of ten (10) blocks per set”), where the children can play with the blocks (on “a flat building surface” that is “not in the main traffic area”) and when caregivers must wash their hands (before “eating food,” “after wiping a child’s nose,” etc.)…..
Earlier this year, the Colorado Department of Human Services proposed new rules for day-care centers. Government oversight of day care seems like a good idea—you wouldn't want children cooped up in an airless basement—but this proposal went far beyond basic health and safety.
Common Good
Between deregulation on one end, and regulatory micromanagement on the other, is a more sensible option: Results-based regulation.
Between deregulation on one end, and regulatory micromanagement on the other, is a more sensible option: Results-based regulation.
The Atlantic
A deviant subculture is defined by sociologist Anthony Giddens as one “whose members have values which differ substantially from those of the majority in a society.” American government is a deviant subculture. Its leaders stand on soapboxes and polarize the public by pointing fingers while secretly doing the bidding of special interests. Many public employees plod through life with their noses in rule books, indifferent to the actual needs of the public and unaccountable to anyone. The professionals who interact with government — lawyers and lobbyists — make sure every issue is viewed through the blinders of a particular interest, not through the broader lens of the common good. Government is almost completely isolated from the public it supposedly serves. The one link that is essential for a functioning democracy — identifiable officials who have responsibility to accomplish public goals — is nowhere to be found. Who’s in charge? It’s hard to say. The bureaucracy is a kind of Moebius strip of passing the buck. The most powerful force in this subculture is inertia: Things happen a certain way because they happened that way yesterday. Programs are piled upon programs, without any effort at coherence; there are 82 separate federal programs, for example, for teacher training. Ancient subsidies from the New Deal are treated as sacred cows. The idea of setting priorities is anathema. Nothing can get taken away, because that would offend a special interest……
A deviant subculture is defined by sociologist Anthony Giddens as one "whose members have values which differ substantially from those of the majority in a society." American government is a deviant subculture. Its leaders stand on soapboxes and polarize the public by pointing fingers while secretly doing the bidding of special interests. Many public employees plod through life with their noses in rule books, indifferent to the actual needs of the public and unaccountable to anyone. The professionals who interact with government -- lawyers and lobbyists -- make sure every issue is viewed through the blinders of a particular interest, not through the broader lens of the common good. Government is almost completely isolated from the public it supposedly serves. The one link that is essential for a functioning democracy -- identifiable officials who have responsibility to accomplish public goals -- is nowhere to be found. Who's in charge? It's hard to say. The bureaucracy is a kind of Moebius strip of passing the buck. The most powerful force in this subculture is inertia: Things happen a certain way because they happened that way yesterday. Programs are piled upon programs, without any effort at coherence; there are 82 separate federal programs, for example, for teacher training. Ancient subsidies from the New Deal are treated as sacred cows. The idea of setting priorities is anathema. Nothing can get taken away, because that would offend a special interest......
The Atlantic
How government became a deviant subculture is a story of good intentions gone awry. We tried to avoid government abuse by replacing individual responsibility with detailed rules and objective legal proceedings. Never again would officials play favorites or indulge personal prejudices. Government would be an efficient assembly line. What we achieved instead was what philosopher Hannah Arendt called “the rule of Nobody.” Instead of an automated assembly line, government became a bureaucratic jungle, with all the pathologies of a culture without responsibility or accountability: savage politics disconnected from actual accomplishment; hyper-inefficiency; and a universal sense of powerlessness, causing a downward spiral of selfishness and cynicism. “Nothing is impossible,” one public employee observed, “until it is sent to a committee.”….
How government became a deviant subculture is a story of good intentions gone awry. We tried to avoid government abuse by replacing individual responsibility with detailed rules and objective legal proceedings. Never again would officials play favorites or indulge personal prejudices. Government would be an efficient assembly line. What we achieved instead was what philosopher Hannah Arendt called "the rule of Nobody." Instead of an automated assembly line, government became a bureaucratic jungle, with all the pathologies of a culture without responsibility or accountability: savage politics disconnected from actual accomplishment; hyper-inefficiency; and a universal sense of powerlessness, causing a downward spiral of selfishness and cynicism. "Nothing is impossible," one public employee observed, "until it is sent to a committee."....
The Atlantic
America has painted itself into a corner. The nation is faced with trillion-dollar deficits, but most political leaders are unwilling to propose real solutions for fear of alienating voters who want it all. Special interests maintain a death grip on the status quo, making it hard to fix things that everyone agrees are broken. Where is a path out? Little has emerged from the campaign season to address the reality that government is unsustainable in its current form. Conservative candidates pledge smaller government, but no candidate has solutions to crippling healthcare costs. Pledging to create “a leaner government,” President Obama has asked Congress to reinstate presidential authority to reorganize federal agencies. Rearranging the deck chairs will do almost nothing, however, to rescue the foundering ship…..
America has painted itself into a corner. The nation is faced with trillion-dollar deficits, but most political leaders are unwilling to propose real solutions for fear of alienating voters who want it all. Special interests maintain a death grip on the status quo, making it hard to fix things that everyone agrees are broken. Where is a path out? Little has emerged from the campaign season to address the reality that government is unsustainable in its current form. Conservative candidates pledge smaller government, but no candidate has solutions to crippling healthcare costs. Pledging to create "a leaner government," President Obama has asked Congress to reinstate presidential authority to reorganize federal agencies. Rearranging the deck chairs will do almost nothing, however, to rescue the foundering ship.....
The Atlantic
This is the first article in a new series The Atlantic is publishing in partnership with Common Good, a nonpartisan government reform organization, devoted to remaking government within budget and without suffocating the American spirit. Each month, America the Fixable will identify a different challenge facing the United States — regulation, school bureaucracy, healthcare, civil service, campaign finance reform — and, drawing together a range of expert voices on the topic, offer potential solutions in articles, online discussions, and video reports. This month, the series tackles the scourge of obsolete laws.–The Editors….
This is the first article in a new series The Atlantic is publishing in partnership with Common Good, a nonpartisan government reform organization, devoted to remaking government within budget and without suffocating the American spirit. Each month, America the Fixable will identify a different challenge facing the United States -- regulation, school bureaucracy, healthcare, civil service, campaign finance reform -- and, drawing together a range of expert voices on the topic, offer potential solutions in articles, online discussions, and video reports. This month, the series tackles the scourge of obsolete laws.--The Editors....
Washington Post
A healthy democracy must make fresh choices. This requires not mindless deregulation but continual adjustment of laws. Congress could take on this responsibility if it followed a simple proposal: Every law should automatically expire after 10 or 15 years.
A healthy democracy must make fresh choices. This requires not mindless deregulation but continual adjustment of laws. Congress could take on this responsibility if it followed a simple proposal: Every law should automatically expire after 10 or 15 years.
Wall Street Journal
The indictment of seven Long Island Rail Road workers for disability fraud last week cast a spotlight on a troubled government agency. Until recently, over 90% of LIRR workers retired with a disability—even those who worked desk jobs—adding about $36,000 to their annual pensions. The cost to New York taxpayers over the past decade was $300 million. As one investigator put it, fraud of this kind “became a culture of sorts among the LIRR workers, who took to gathering in doctor’s waiting rooms bragging to each [other]……
The indictment of seven Long Island Rail Road workers for disability fraud last week cast a spotlight on a troubled government agency. Until recently, over 90% of LIRR workers retired with a disability—even those who worked desk jobs—adding about $36,000 to their annual pensions. The cost to New York taxpayers over the past decade was $300 million. As one investigator put it, fraud of this kind "became a culture of sorts among the LIRR workers, who took to gathering in doctor's waiting rooms bragging to each [other]......
Common Good
A collection of Philip Howard’s reform proposals addressing issues from education and public unions to health care and infrastructure.
A collection of Philip Howard's reform proposals addressing issues from education and public unions to health care and infrastructure.
Right of Way Magazine
Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons
Health Affairs
The rising cost of America’s health care system – already 18 percent of GDP – is driving the country toward the fiscal brink, and nowhere is the need for a new paradigm to control costs more evident than in the area of medical liability. Doctors’ justified distrust of medical justice (which has an error rate of 25 percent) leads them to prescribe and perform treatments for no other reason than to prevent lawsuits. This “defensive medicine” is estimated to cost anywhere from $45 billion to more than $200 billion a year. Fortunately, a growing bipartisan consensus is pointing the way to a solution. There is widespread public support for the creation of special health courts. Moreover, despite the highly polarized nature of American politics today, there is consistent support across political parties. A nationwide poll, conducted in April by the Clarus Research Group for Common Good, the nonpartisan organization I chair, revealed that 66 percent of voters support the idea of creating health courts to decide medical claims. Only 25 percent said that those claims should be decided as they are now, and there was virtually no difference between Democrats and Republicans on the issue: 68 percent of Republicans, 67 percent of Democrats, and 61 percent of independents support health courts.
The rising cost of America’s health care system – already 18 percent of GDP – is driving the country toward the fiscal brink, and nowhere is the need for a new paradigm to control costs more evident than in the area of medical liability. Doctors’ justified distrust of medical justice (which has an error rate of 25 percent) leads them to prescribe and perform treatments for no other reason than to prevent lawsuits. This “defensive medicine” is estimated to cost anywhere from $45 billion to more than $200 billion a year. Fortunately, a growing bipartisan consensus is pointing the way to a solution. There is widespread public support for the creation of special health courts. Moreover, despite the highly polarized nature of American politics today, there is consistent support across political parties. A nationwide poll, conducted in April by the Clarus Research Group for Common Good, the nonpartisan organization I chair, revealed that 66 percent of voters support the idea of creating health courts to decide medical claims. Only 25 percent said that those claims should be decided as they are now, and there was virtually no difference between Democrats and Republicans on the issue: 68 percent of Republicans, 67 percent of Democrats, and 61 percent of independents support health courts.
The Atlantic
Creating new jobs requires more than monetary policy. Long-term strategies must include better training, as Lenny Mendonca suggests in this series, and more strategic immigration policies, as Steve Case advocates. Stimulating immediate job growth, however, requires creating conditions that encourage human initiative. This requires toppling the sacred legal cows that make it costly and time-consuming to pursue almost any new project, public or private….
Creating new jobs requires more than monetary policy. Long-term strategies must include better training, as Lenny Mendonca suggests in this series, and more strategic immigration policies, as Steve Case advocates. Stimulating immediate job growth, however, requires creating conditions that encourage human initiative. This requires toppling the sacred legal cows that make it costly and time-consuming to pursue almost any new project, public or private....
The Atlantic
A few weeks ago 13-year-old Matthew Migliaccio was sued for an errant throw that hit a spectator at a Little League game in Manchester Township, New Jersey. The incident occurred in May 2010, when as an 11-year-old catcher — warming up a pitcher in the designated bullpen area of the field — Migliaccio overthrew his target and opened the door to legal liability. In America, there’s no such thing as an accident without a lawsuit — even apparently if the victim chose freely to sit five feet from a child throwing projectiles. This incident is just the kind of example that fuels the public perception that the legal system in America is available for any ordinary life risk gone awry, even if it means forcing a 13-year-old to hire a lawyer….
A few weeks ago 13-year-old Matthew Migliaccio was sued for an errant throw that hit a spectator at a Little League game in Manchester Township, New Jersey. The incident occurred in May 2010, when as an 11-year-old catcher -- warming up a pitcher in the designated bullpen area of the field -- Migliaccio overthrew his target and opened the door to legal liability. In America, there's no such thing as an accident without a lawsuit -- even apparently if the victim chose freely to sit five feet from a child throwing projectiles. This incident is just the kind of example that fuels the public perception that the legal system in America is available for any ordinary life risk gone awry, even if it means forcing a 13-year-old to hire a lawyer....
The Atlantic
Leading art experts increasingly refuse to give their opinions on whether a work is authentic, according to Patricia Cohen’s front page story in the New York Times. Fear of litigation is the culprit. The former chief curator at MoMA, John Elderfield, refused to give an opinion on whether a work attributed to Henri Matisse was real, because he “could be sued if he said the painting was not a real Matisse.” Free speech is supposedly a core value of our culture. But the mere possibility of a lawsuit by a self-interested seller of dubious art apparently has trumped the First Amendment. Not many years ago, Elderfield observed, art experts felt they “had a moral obligation to” give their honest view. Now, organizations dedicated to safeguarding the reputations of artists, including the Andy Warhol Foundation and the Noguchi Museum, “have all stopped authenticating works to avoid litigation.”…..
Leading art experts increasingly refuse to give their opinions on whether a work is authentic, according to Patricia Cohen's front page story in the New York Times. Fear of litigation is the culprit. The former chief curator at MoMA, John Elderfield, refused to give an opinion on whether a work attributed to Henri Matisse was real, because he "could be sued if he said the painting was not a real Matisse." Free speech is supposedly a core value of our culture. But the mere possibility of a lawsuit by a self-interested seller of dubious art apparently has trumped the First Amendment. Not many years ago, Elderfield observed, art experts felt they "had a moral obligation to" give their honest view. Now, organizations dedicated to safeguarding the reputations of artists, including the Andy Warhol Foundation and the Noguchi Museum, "have all stopped authenticating works to avoid litigation.".....
The Atlantic
The role of authority in a free society does not seem to be a valid topic for discussion nowadays. Perhaps that’s why David Brooks’s recent column — criticizing a general “attitude of opposing authority” — has elicited a firestorm of negative commentary. Commenters jumped all over Brooks for advocating “banal authoritarianism,” and offered their own philosophical allegiance to the principle that freedom is defined by protection against authority. As one reader put it, “[C]elebrating … individualism is as much about recognizing, fearing, and guarding against the corruption of power as it is about preserving the right to do your own thing.”……
The role of authority in a free society does not seem to be a valid topic for discussion nowadays. Perhaps that's why David Brooks's recent column -- criticizing a general "attitude of opposing authority" -- has elicited a firestorm of negative commentary. Commenters jumped all over Brooks for advocating "banal authoritarianism," and offered their own philosophical allegiance to the principle that freedom is defined by protection against authority. As one reader put it, "[C]elebrating ... individualism is as much about recognizing, fearing, and guarding against the corruption of power as it is about preserving the right to do your own thing."......
The Atlantic
There’s a tendency to take American justice for granted, like a trusty utensil that has generally served our free society well over the past two centuries. Sure, there are ideological battles in the Supreme Court over Obamacare, and the odd crazy case, like the administrative law judge in D.C. who sued his cleaners for $54 million for losing a pair of pants. But by and large American justice gets to reasonable results, and along the way provides no small amount of prurient entertainment, such as revealing the sleazy, egomaniacal conduct of former Senator John Edwards. American justice also has the virtue of not being corrupt (although there are some sordid aspects of judicial elections, which retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is working to change)…..
There's a tendency to take American justice for granted, like a trusty utensil that has generally served our free society well over the past two centuries. Sure, there are ideological battles in the Supreme Court over Obamacare, and the odd crazy case, like the administrative law judge in D.C. who sued his cleaners for $54 million for losing a pair of pants. But by and large American justice gets to reasonable results, and along the way provides no small amount of prurient entertainment, such as revealing the sleazy, egomaniacal conduct of former Senator John Edwards. American justice also has the virtue of not being corrupt (although there are some sordid aspects of judicial elections, which retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is working to change).....
The Atlantic
It’s hard to find anyone who defends the structure of American health care. Every incentive is misaligned. Patients have little incentive to be prudent in their use of services, or to pay the costs of their own unhealthy lifestyle. Under the fee-for-service model, doctors and hospitals get paid more the more they do. Fear of random lawsuits causes them to practice “defensive medicine,” and chills open interaction with patients and other professionals. Insurance companies make more money by denying claims. These misaligned incentives, most experts believe, are largely responsible for the notorious inefficiency of American health care — costing more than $8,000 per person, or twice what most other countries spend. The total tab — $2.6 trillion in 2010, or 18 percent of GDP — is substantially responsible for America’s trillion-dollar deficits. The federal government pays roughly a third of the total national health care bill, mostly through Medicare (health care for the elderly) and Medicaid (health care for the poor). It also spends hundreds of billions — $177 billion in 2011 — in tax expenditures for employer-provided health insurance……
It's hard to find anyone who defends the structure of American health care. Every incentive is misaligned. Patients have little incentive to be prudent in their use of services, or to pay the costs of their own unhealthy lifestyle. Under the fee-for-service model, doctors and hospitals get paid more the more they do. Fear of random lawsuits causes them to practice "defensive medicine," and chills open interaction with patients and other professionals. Insurance companies make more money by denying claims. These misaligned incentives, most experts believe, are largely responsible for the notorious inefficiency of American health care -- costing more than $8,000 per person, or twice what most other countries spend. The total tab -- $2.6 trillion in 2010, or 18 percent of GDP -- is substantially responsible for America's trillion-dollar deficits. The federal government pays roughly a third of the total national health care bill, mostly through Medicare (health care for the elderly) and Medicaid (health care for the poor). It also spends hundreds of billions -- $177 billion in 2011 -- in tax expenditures for employer-provided health insurance......
The Atlantic
Bureaucracy is crushing America’s schools. That’s the inescapable conclusion of virtually every essay from America the Fixable’s April education series — by experts from the right and left, by union leader Randi Weingarten and charter school innovator David Feinberg. Mere reform won’t work. The existing legal structure needs to be dismantled. Polling shows that’s what the American people want as well. Inspired by the bold views of the essays from the series, and also by readers’ comments, I’ve come up with a proposed presidential platform for overhauling America’s public schools. It calls for a radical change in approach, replacing bureaucracy with individual responsibility and accountability…..
Bureaucracy is crushing America's schools. That's the inescapable conclusion of virtually every essay from America the Fixable's April education series -- by experts from the right and left, by union leader Randi Weingarten and charter school innovator David Feinberg. Mere reform won't work. The existing legal structure needs to be dismantled. Polling shows that's what the American people want as well. Inspired by the bold views of the essays from the series, and also by readers' comments, I've come up with a proposed presidential platform for overhauling America's public schools. It calls for a radical change in approach, replacing bureaucracy with individual responsibility and accountability.....
The Atlantic
America’s schools are being crushed under decades of legislative and union mandates. They can never succeed until we cast off the bureaucracy and unleash individual inspiration and willpower. Schools are human institutions. Their effectiveness depends upon engaging the interest and focus of each student. A good teacher, studies show, can dramatically improve the learning of students. What do great teachers have in common? Nothing, according to studies — nothing, that is, except a commitment to teaching and a knack for keeping the students engaged (see especially The Moral Life of Schools). Good teachers don’t emerge spontaneously, and training and mentoring are indispensable. But ultimately, effective teaching seems to hinge on, more than any other factor, the personality of the teacher. Skilled teachers have a power to engage their students — with spontaneity, authority, and wit.
America's schools are being crushed under decades of legislative and union mandates. They can never succeed until we cast off the bureaucracy and unleash individual inspiration and willpower. Schools are human institutions. Their effectiveness depends upon engaging the interest and focus of each student. A good teacher, studies show, can dramatically improve the learning of students. What do great teachers have in common? Nothing, according to studies -- nothing, that is, except a commitment to teaching and a knack for keeping the students engaged (see especially The Moral Life of Schools). Good teachers don't emerge spontaneously, and training and mentoring are indispensable. But ultimately, effective teaching seems to hinge on, more than any other factor, the personality of the teacher. Skilled teachers have a power to engage their students -- with spontaneity, authority, and wit.
The Atlantic
The regulatory state exists because of the practical necessity for a traffic cop to oversee common resources and enforce minimum norms of safety and fairness. This is a dynamic role, requiring government to be an active umpire in a crowded world, adapting to new challenges while keeping its own house in order. But America’s massive, convoluted, rigid legal structure makes it almost impossible for government to do this job sensibly and within budget. Laws are piled upon laws, making adaptation essentially illegal. Congress doesn’t clean out the stables in part because of a constitutional flaw — our founders didn’t anticipate that it would be much harder to repeal a law than passing it in the first place. Bureaucracies don’t clean out regulations for the additional reason that the agencies become inbred, and are run by people who do things this way because that’s how it’s always been done……
The regulatory state exists because of the practical necessity for a traffic cop to oversee common resources and enforce minimum norms of safety and fairness. This is a dynamic role, requiring government to be an active umpire in a crowded world, adapting to new challenges while keeping its own house in order. But America's massive, convoluted, rigid legal structure makes it almost impossible for government to do this job sensibly and within budget. Laws are piled upon laws, making adaptation essentially illegal. Congress doesn't clean out the stables in part because of a constitutional flaw -- our founders didn't anticipate that it would be much harder to repeal a law than passing it in the first place. Bureaucracies don't clean out regulations for the additional reason that the agencies become inbred, and are run by people who do things this way because that's how it's always been done......
The Atlantic
The Atlantic
Vaclav Havel, the former Czech independence activist and president who died on Sunday, has been justly eulogized for his intellectual leadership and personal courage in the fight against communism. Havel was also a thoughtful observer of western democracies, seeing similar absolutist trends in government structures that strive toward uniformity and ultimate solutions. In a series of speeches given in the 1990s, he laid out an analysis that seems, if anything, even more relevant today. Western governments, he said, are organized on a flawed premise not far removed from the Soviet system that had just collapsed. “The modern era has been dominated by the culminating belief,” he said, “that the world … is a wholly knowable system governed by finite number of universal laws that man can grasp and rationally direct … objectively describing, explaining, and controlling everything.”….
Vaclav Havel, the former Czech independence activist and president who died on Sunday, has been justly eulogized for his intellectual leadership and personal courage in the fight against communism. Havel was also a thoughtful observer of western democracies, seeing similar absolutist trends in government structures that strive toward uniformity and ultimate solutions. In a series of speeches given in the 1990s, he laid out an analysis that seems, if anything, even more relevant today. Western governments, he said, are organized on a flawed premise not far removed from the Soviet system that had just collapsed. "The modern era has been dominated by the culminating belief," he said, "that the world ... is a wholly knowable system governed by finite number of universal laws that man can grasp and rationally direct ... objectively describing, explaining, and controlling everything."....
New York Daily News
A recent lawsuit against New York City argues that, under the broad mandate for “equal access” under the 1991 Americans With Disabilities Act, all taxis must be wheelchair-accessible. The relief demanded would require, over the next five years, that all 13,000 New York City medallion cabs be replaced by cabs that cost about $15,000 more – basically to have their frames cut and then stretched to accommodate a ramp and room inside for a person in a wheelchair. The other alternative is forcing all medallion owners to buy new, accessible cabs that are even more expensive. This is not a frivolous lawsuit. The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a supporting brief. The financial implications of the case are dramatic. Making all taxis wheelchair accessible is likely to add almost $200 million to the cost of new taxis, and then again when they wear out in five years. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/new-taxi-fleet-accessible-disabled-noble-goal-bad-idea-simply-costs-article-1.968020#ixzz2owIheFM8 …….
A recent lawsuit against New York City argues that, under the broad mandate for "equal access" under the 1991 Americans With Disabilities Act, all taxis must be wheelchair-accessible. The relief demanded would require, over the next five years, that all 13,000 New York City medallion cabs be replaced by cabs that cost about $15,000 more - basically to have their frames cut and then stretched to accommodate a ramp and room inside for a person in a wheelchair. The other alternative is forcing all medallion owners to buy new, accessible cabs that are even more expensive. This is not a frivolous lawsuit. The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a supporting brief. The financial implications of the case are dramatic. Making all taxis wheelchair accessible is likely to add almost $200 million to the cost of new taxis, and then again when they wear out in five years. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/new-taxi-fleet-accessible-disabled-noble-goal-bad-idea-simply-costs-article-1.968020#ixzz2owIheFM8 .......
Forbes
President Obama’s job speech last Thursday made a bold statement about getting rid of unnecessary regulation: “We should have no more regulation than the health, safety and security of the American people require. Every rule should meet that common-sense test.” But what does that mean? Just a couple of weeks ago the Administration announced federal agencies’ plans to prune unnecessary regulation—promising savings of about $2 billion per year, or about one-tenth of one percent of the nation’s annual regulatory cost. Whatever one thinks about the particular proposals, it is unlikely to stimulate the economy. In the grand scheme of things, it’s pretty trivial….
President Obama’s job speech last Thursday made a bold statement about getting rid of unnecessary regulation: “We should have no more regulation than the health, safety and security of the American people require. Every rule should meet that common-sense test.” But what does that mean? Just a couple of weeks ago the Administration announced federal agencies’ plans to prune unnecessary regulation—promising savings of about $2 billion per year, or about one-tenth of one percent of the nation’s annual regulatory cost. Whatever one thinks about the particular proposals, it is unlikely to stimulate the economy. In the grand scheme of things, it’s pretty trivial....
New York Times
The potential for saving $1 billion nationwide with more active judicial intervention in medical malpractice cases is certainly an improvement over the current litigation free-for-all. But doctors waste at least $50 billion each year in unnecessary defensive medicine. Avoiding this waste requires more than better judicial management; it requires a reliable decision maker who can be trusted to sort good care from bad…..
The potential for saving $1 billion nationwide with more active judicial intervention in medical malpractice cases is certainly an improvement over the current litigation free-for-all. But doctors waste at least $50 billion each year in unnecessary defensive medicine. Avoiding this waste requires more than better judicial management; it requires a reliable decision maker who can be trusted to sort good care from bad.....
The Atlantic
The Atlantic
The Atlantic
Wall Street Journal
The Atlantic
The Atlantic
Washington Post
Wall Street Journal
The Atlantic
The Atlantic
Washington Examiner
Indianapolis Star
Detroit Free Press
Wall Street Journal
Wall Street Journal