This week Sen. McConnell is proposing a new stimulus, with strings. What’s missing, we think, is a principled vision for a new social contract for dealing with pandemics. Here’s our proposal in The Hill. 

There’s a common thread in the botched response to COVID-19, in the inability to hold bad cops accountable, in the delay in fixing decrepit infrastructure, and many other frustrations that are causing Americans to take to the streets. That common thread is a broad sense of powerlessness. Americans at all levels of responsibility have been disempowered from making sense of public choices. Philip Howard's lead op-ed in today’s USA Today argues that the solution is to reboot the public operating system to give Americans room to take responsibility again.

Tomorrow at noon (EDT), we’re hosting a Zoom forum to discuss red tape in schools. Our position is that principals and teachers are crushed by the accretion of organizational requirements—metrics, forms, work rules, and legal rights. You can join us by registering here. 

Neither political party is likely to make these points, at least not until there’s public demand for a new vision. Please give us your ideas on how to move forward, and encourage your friends and colleagues to join our mailing list.

• Read our statement from last week on the Trump administration's new regulations to streamline infrastructure permitting.

• Watch the videos from our July 15 forum on public service accountability.