Philip K. Howard, Chair of Common Good, today released the following statement on the Trump Administration’s final changes—announced on July 16—to regulations streamlining permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The new regulations and explanatory material cite several times the Common Good 2015 report “Two Years, Not Ten Years.”
Read MoreAccountability is key to fixing broken government. Accountability is vital to public trust, and also to a healthy internal public culture. Nothing is more corrosive to a department than the knowledge that personal performance doesn't matter. Why go the extra mile if others don't? Like a leak in a tire, energy and pride quickly go flat.
Read MoreThe bipartisan Campaign for Common Sense will hold a Zoom forum on Wednesday, July 15, to explore the need to remake public service in America.
Read MoreThe first forum of the Campaign for Common Good addressed the following challenges: avoiding red tape delays in reopening; creating a reliable liability framework that avoids chilling reopening while incentivizing safe protocols; and learning from other developed countries.
Read MoreThe bipartisan Campaign for Common Good, which launched last Thursday, will hold its first virtual forum on Tuesday, June 30, at noon (EDT). The one-hour Zoom forum will focus on “The Legal Framework for COVID-19 Recovery” and will cover the following challenges: avoiding red tape delays in reopening; creating a reliable liability framework that avoids chilling reopening while incentivizing safe protocols; and learning from other developed countries.
Read MoreCreating a legal framework for COVID-19 recovery will be the first plank in our Campaign for Common Good. We will host a virtual forum on Tuesday, June 30, at 12pm Eastern time.
Read More"The virus teaches us something. It's a wakeup call," says Philip K. Howard, the founder of the nonprofit Common Good…
Read MoreThe Washington Examiner’s Grant Addison discusses the Campaign for Common Good with Philip K. Howard.
Read MoreWho has a coherent vision for better government? Good leadership is vital but not sufficient. The current framework frustrates everyone.
Read More100 Prominent Leaders from Both Parties – Including Former Senators, Governors, Mayors, and Business and Thought Leaders – Call for Spring Cleaning Commissions. Government’s Failures with COVID-19 and Police Accountability Show the Need for Overhaul.
Read MorePressure for change is building. Broad alienation and pent-up frustration are reflected in the crazy political rhetoric. But where’s the coherent vision of what the change should be?
Read MoreSomething has gone terribly wrong. An overgrown jungle of complex laws has created stagnation in our country, and removed people's ability to exercise judgement and common sense. Something needs to be done to simplify the law, remove unnecessary rules, and put humans in charge again.
Read MoreThe Washington cocktail of paralytic bureaucracy and polarized politics has stalled the rebuilding of America's decrepit infrastructure for over a decade. Now would be a good time to get off the dime. A million or more jobs — mostly outdoors — would be a great path for helping the economy recover from the COVID shutdown.
Read MoreRebuilding America’s decrepit infrastructure would be a fabulous way to come out of the COVID shutdown — a million or more jobs, most of which are outdoors. How do we do that?
Read MoreThe protests and riots show what happens when large segments of the population believe the deck is stacked against them. Distrust of government leads to corrosion of civil society. The opportunistic looting across the country is indefensible, but it’s rationalized by the logic of nihilism: If police won’t follow norms of civilized behavior, then neither will we.
Read MoreOn this episode of the First Things Podcast, Philip K. Howard discusses his book Try Common Sense: Replacing the Failed Ideologies of Right and Left with host Mark Bauerlein.
Read More“Philip Howard, Chairman of Common Good, discusses the need for such an agency to cut through red tape as the country rebounds from the coronavirus pandemic. Paul Burton hosts.”
Read MorePeople want answers for what went wrong with America’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic—from lack of preparedness, to delays in containing the virus, to failing to ramp up testing capacity and the production of protective gear. But almost nowhere in the current discussion can one find a coherent vision for how to avoid the same problems next time or help restore a healthy democracy.
Read More“Leading legal and governmental reform experts Philip Howard and Cass Sunstein joined CEI President Kent Lassman to discuss structural regulatory changes that could encourage additional relief in the pandemic.”
Read MoreGovernment needs to become disciplined again, just as in wartime. It must be adaptable, and encourage private initiative without unnecessary frictions. Dense codes should be replaced with simpler goal-oriented frameworks, as Cuomo has done. Red tape should be replaced with accountability. Excess baggage should be tossed overboard. We’re in a storm, and can’t get out while wallowing under the heavy weight of legacy practices and special privileges.
Read More
