Greg Kennedy
There’s lots going on in Washington, and in the world, without any clear ending points. Sometimes, in these periods of change, it is possible to break free of outmoded conventions that prevent society from moving forward. Our mission at Common Good is to simplify governing frameworks so that Americans can roll up their sleeves and take initiative. The opportunities are nearly endless—to modernize infrastructure, fix broken schools, and refocus government on results instead of red tape.
Our board member Greg Kennedy, trained as a lawyer and son of a judge, had been helping us almost since we started. He organized talks at Stanford Law School, urged influential legal scholars and judges to participate in our forums, and was helping with a presentation to the Department of Justice on how public union controls undermine executive authority. Recently, when our till was low, he filled the room with business leaders to hear why public paralysis required legal overhaul.
Greg seemed to have two gears—making things happen and having fun. I ran into Greg at the gym about ten years ago, and mentioned that our son’s band was playing in a lower east side club that evening. Greg paused, thought for a moment, and said, “Yes, I think I can do that.” There he was, at 10 pm on a work night, beer in hand, tapping his foot. I never saw Greg’s off switch. In recent encounters, he described in detail the values of his son’s college in North Carolina and the relative merits of affiliating with different think tanks.
Human initiative is a kind of magic—often harnessing joy in service of accomplishment. Greg exemplified that unique trait of American culture, and showed by example how to make a difference. No one enjoyed life more than Greg. Few people enhanced the lives of others more than Greg.
Greg died suddenly while exercising this past week. Greg was 58, going on 35. Thank you for everything.
– Philip
Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute, writes in The Hill that Democrats need their own DOGE. Marshall cites our work for "how public officials smothered by rules...have lost the authority to use their judgment to make reasonable trade-offs that balance competing public interests."
In his Substack Sanity Clause, Joe Klein vividly describes how the Democratic Party—Klein's party—has dug itself into an interest group pit that basically guarantees failed government.
Brookings' economist Clifford Winston, writing in RealClear Markets, cites our work for the need to move regulation from mindless compliance to making the judgments needed to achieve results.
Jennifer Pahlka, in her Substack Eating Policy, describes the imperative to overhaul government operating structures.