The Vital Center Podcast: Reforming Our Way to Dynamism

In this podcast discussion with the Niskanen Center’s Geoff Kabaservice, Philip Howard offers qualified approval of the Abundance movement that he in some ways anticipated by decades. But he insists that the pruning of excessive rules and procedures must also be accompanied by restoring a role for human judgement: “It’s not simply having less to comply with. It’s actually re-empowering everybody—the teacher in the classroom, the principal, the head of the school, whoever it happens to be—empowering them to do what’s right.”

By the same token, he criticizes Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative for focusing on cutting the things government does but squandering the opportunity to change how the government does things: “There was not even a pretense that they had an idea about how things would work better the day after DOGE.”

AppearancesAndrew ParkMarch 26, 2026Abundance, DOGE, Vital Center

First You Fail, Then I Fail

Most Americans think government is broken, but the prospects for reform are bleak—no matter which party is in control.

The Economist this week hosted an episode of its “Checks and Balance” podcast on what’s needed for America to break out of this doom loop. The format was unique, at least for the Economist: executive editor Charlotte Howard interviewed her father (me), and then discussed the interview with U.S. editor John Prideaux and Washington columnist James Bennet. For the record, this was not my idea and Charlotte reluctantly was pushed into it by her colleagues. I wish we did it all the time.

Fixing what’s broken doesn’t happen because the political dynamic is aimed at beating the other side—not making government work better.

NewslettersAndrew ParkDecember 1, 2025The Economist, DOGE

America Trends Podcast: DOGE May Be Giving Necessary Reform a Bad Name

DOGE seems hellbent on taking an indiscriminate chainsaw to the government itself instead of pruning and cutting back in strategic ways. Philip Howard talks with Larry Rifkin about what needs to be done to enhance the performance of government and hold political leaders to account.

AppearancesAndrew ParkMay 14, 2025Larry Rifkin, America Trends, DOGE

It's in the Air

The world today feels like a rowboat in a storm, with leaders directing their powers towards destruction and disruption. There's no line of sight towards a strong and stable American government.

There's growing consensus, however, that paralytic bureaucracy must be replaced. But replaced with what? DOGE is swinging its wrecking ball without a new governing vision. Democrats seem almost catatonic, calling weakly for more government instead of effective government.

NewslettersAndrew ParkApril 21, 2025DOGE, forum, Abundance

Forum: The Day After DOGE

So far the Trump administration’s DOGE initiative has focused on cutting programs and terminating civil servants, not reforms to improve public performance. But there's broad public and expert opinion that government operating systems are overdue for overhaul.

This forum focused on the operational failures of the current state, and included proposals to empower common sense solutions, make government more manageable, and clarify the role of oversight by courts.

AppearancesAndrew ParkMarch 27, 2025forum, DOGE

A Revolutionary Moment

Disruption can be good or bad. Or both. Courts will decide how far the new administration can go. At Common Good, our focus is to try to ride in front of the DOGE stampede and turn it towards new visions of how to fix endemic public failures.

Tearing down the status quo is not enough, and will have unintended consequences. America needs a new governing philosophy. Here are two big opportunities for new operating structures.

NewslettersAndrew ParkFebruary 13, 2025DOGE

Escape from Quicksand: A New Framework for Modernizing America

In a report published by Manhattan Institute, Philip Howard argues that Washington needs to abandon the bureaucratic compliance model, and replace it with a simpler framework that empowers designated officials to make tradeoff judgments to modernize infrastructure and achieve public results.

Governing structures created after the 1960s are designed to fail because they presume legal rules and processes can validate correct choices. But law can't think. The proper role of law is to provide a framework that delineates the authority to make that decision, and provides public transparency and oversight.

Essays & ReportsAndrew ParkFebruary 6, 2025Philip K. Howard, DOGE, Manhattan Institute

While they're at it...

The noise from Washington is an orchestrated symphony of wrecking balls. Most Americans agree that the red tape state needs to be replaced. But where's the vision for its replacement?

Take civil service—today, federal employees are unaccountable and unmanageable, thanks to statutory and union controls that eviscerate executive authority. What's needed is not a regime based on fear, however, but one that instills mutual trust and pride.

NewslettersAndrew ParkJanuary 28, 2025DOGE, John Avlon, Bulwark

How to Fix It with John Avlon: DOGE Is Doing it Wrong

Philip Howard sits down with John Avlon to talk DOGE and government reform: Elon wants to cut government programs, but that won’t make government more efficient. But changing how the government does things—by streamlining the permitting and purchasing processes, for example—will make government more effective, efficient, and responsive to the public.

AppearancesAndrew ParkJanuary 27, 2025DOGE

Francis Fukuyama: Hold On, Elon and Vivek: Firing Federal Bureaucrats Isn’t the Solution

Federal agencies need more discretion, not less. Many of the rules they follow are not statutory, and one useful function that DOGE could perform is to identify and eliminate the most outdated and inefficient of them. As Philip Howard, the author of many books on simplifying government and founder of the nonpartisan group Common Good, has pointed out over the years, bureaucrats need more freedom to use their own good judgment regarding the implementation of policy, rather than being forced to follow rules.

Essays & ReportsAndrew ParkDecember 13, 2024Francis Fukuyama, DOGE, Commentator, Wall Street Journal

Governing for Results, Not Process

The prospect of overhauling government has near-universal appeal. But experts from all sides are dousing the dream with cold water. Changing regulations takes several years. De-regulation will often conflict with statutory mandates. Most of what government does is not controversial—say, Medicare, a standing army, and national parks. Experts such as Brookings' Elaine Kamarck have shown that the impacts of any plausible de-regulation will be at the margin.

NewslettersAndrew ParkNovember 26, 2024DOGE, Hoover Institution

ForbesTV: This Is How Trump Can Execute Elon Musk And Vivek Ramaswamy 'DOGE' Decisions

On "Forbes Newsroom," Philip Howard spoke about Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's proposed Department of Government Efficiency, and how President-elect Trump can use their cost-cutting recommendations—despite ‘DOGE’ operating outside of the federal government.

AppearancesAndrew ParkNovember 16, 2024Forbes, DOGE

Elon and Vivek Can Make Government Work Again

Most Americans know that Washington is overdue for a Department of Government Efficiency. But what should such a commission fix?

The civil service certainly needs an overhaul to establish accountability from top to bottom. The point, however, isn’t to inject a sense of terror in government employees but to instill trust that everyone is held to the same standards.

Essays & ReportsAndrew ParkNovember 14, 2024Philip K. Howard, Wall Street Journal, DOGE

A Bipartisan Efficiency Commission

An idea! Policy debate has been largely absent from a campaign season pitting a theme of joy against eating pets.

The IDEA came, predictably, from Elon Musk, who offered to run a “government efficiency commission” for Donald Trump. Trump immediately embraced the idea.

But what would an “efficiency commission” actually do?

NewslettersAndrew ParkSeptember 17, 2024DOGE