The Vacuum of Authority

By: Philip K. Howard

Most political leaders and reformers see government failures as a management problem. Put us in charge, they say, and we'll get things working. Their record of failure over the past five decades should have prompted some self-doubt, but instead, it has fostered extremism among frustrated partisans.

Government doesn't have a management problem; it has a philosophy problem. The philosophical flaw does not concern the scope of government or the goals of public policy. The flaw is the belief that governing decisions should be untainted by human judgment — that all public choices must meet a standard of objective correctness through compliance with rules and legal procedures.

As a result, America's governing officials have lost the authority to assert and defend the core values of a free society in their daily choices. The consequences include ineffective government, a broad sense of powerlessness, and an epidemic of selfishness masquerading as protection of individual rights. The subsequent fraying of our social fabric is palpable, and well documented.

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