Runaway Train
Common Good Chair Philip Howard spent last week in Washington, and was impressed by the staffers and experts who saw clearly the need to 1) give permits to rebuild decrepit infrastructure and 2) remove managerial shackles that make it impossible to fix broken schools, fire rogue cops, and point government in the direction of what society needs. But they acknowledge none of that can happen. The status quo is defended by armies of special interests—public employee unions control government operations, environmental groups command a veto over all infrastructure, rich investors keep their tax breaks, and so forth.
There are lots of dedicated people maintaining the machinery of government. But no one is actually in charge of deciding whether government is doing what society needs. Government barrels down the track. Politics barrels down the track. Our society is propelled towards the future by a runaway train. This is unlikely to end well.
Government needs to change direction. That requires a vision for change that the public can rally behind. That's hard to achieve in a toxic political culture driven by distrust. What's needed is moral authority—a vision put forth by respected people and groups who are not seeking power for themselves. Change will upset many interest groups, and moral authority is essential to withstand their attacks. That's why, through history, resetting the priorities and rules of government has often been proposed by small groups of jurists or experts with no stake in the outcome.
Washington plows forward in the direction set by decades of accumulated laws and backroom deals. The solution is not to get rid of government—who else is going to deal with immigration, homelessness, climate change, and other challenges of our time? The solution is to dislodge the status quo, and reset public priorities and operating systems. Schools might be the tip of the spear. Last year 37 schools in Chicago had not one student proficient in reading or in math. Yet no one has authority to change how those schools work. Taking back control of schools, Philip argues in this cover story for Washington Examiner Magazine, requires breaking the stranglehold of teachers unions.
The main danger facing America, in our view, is not extremism—that's just a symptom of broad futility. The main danger is the failure even to recognize that government is beyond the control of those elected to lead it.
Political scientist Michael Hartney, a Fellow at the Hoover Institution, reviewed Not Accountable for the Claremont Review of Books, calling it “a courageous book that respects no sacred cows." Visit Common Good's website to read more citations to the book since our last newsletter.