Interview: Power to the People

On June 25, Common Good launched a campaign to cut “legacy” red tape to enable the federal government to confront the range of challenges it’s facing, from policing to pandemic preparedness to crumbling infrastructure and failing institutions. Leading the effort is Philip K. Howard, who has recruited former politicians such as Mitch Daniels and Bill Bradley, social theorists such as Jonathan Haidt and Yuval Levin, and healthcare academics such as former Johns Hopkins President Bill Brody and former Harvard Medical School Dean Jeffrey Flier. The Washington Examiner’s J. Grant Addison spoke with Howard ahead of the launch. The following is a condensed version of their conversation.

Washington Examiner: What is the Campaign for Common Sense?

Philip K. Howard: In the last 50 years, government has become more and more sclerotic — where not only can it not do things, but it doesn’t let other people do what’s needed. Teachers have lost control of the classroom; they don’t have the authority to maintain order. Officials can’t give a permit for new infrastructure, so President Obama gets $800 billion in 2009 to stimulate the economy, most of which is supposed to be spent on infrastructure, but five years later, turns out only 3.6% was spent on transportation/infrastructure. And now, this year, we have this sort of botched response to the COVID epidemic where public health officials in Seattle sit on their hands for weeks while they wait for approvals to pass through the eye of the Washington needle. Meanwhile, the pandemic is spreading…

Read the full interview here.