Who Wants Overhaul?
Overhauling government is needed to achieve public and private goals, most Americans agree. But overhaul is impossible without a new political movement. A “first mover” problem prevents any political leader from getting in the crosshairs of the powerful interest groups that defend the status quo.
Forces for change are starting to coalesce, however. A centrist think tank, the Niskanen Center, is finding policy alignment for overhaul across a broad spectrum of thought leaders and think tanks, including with Common Good’s proposals. Here is Niskanen’s recent podcast with Philip Howard, exploring what overhaul should look like.
Institutions focused on fixing one area (such as schools, healthcare, or the environment) also are starting to realize that change is unlikely without a broader overhaul movement. In the Harvard Kennedy School education journal, Education Next, Philip reviews Cass Sunstein’s new book Sludge, which targets the broad phenomenon of bureaucratic accretion across all areas of society. Sunstein recommends “sludge audits” in every area of government, similar to Common Good’s call for “spring cleaning commissions.”
In a commentary for Arab News, Nadim Shehadi, Executive Director of the Lebanese American University in New York, cites our work in exploring American decline through the institutionalized loss of common sense.
A new report by the Public Policy Institute of California notes that vital ecosystem restoration projects find themselves mired in regulations intended to prevent environmental harm. The report concludes that “not only is improving permitting possible, it’s absolutely vital. .... The people and wildlife of California need ecosystem restoration at scale and soon, so that healthy ecosystems can provide clean water, food, flood risk management, carbon sequestration, places to recreate and connect to nature, and other critical functions as the climate changes. For this reason, smarter permitting for environmental restoration is a core element of creating a better future California.”