Essays
Philip K. Howard, News Items
American government is suffering a breakdown of authority. It is unable to give permits for transmission lines and housing, deal with homelessness, fix broken schools, or even fire a civil servant who doesn’t show up for work.
Red tape has supplanted official responsibility.
The accretion of detailed codes, procedures and regulations among numerous agencies at federal, state and local levels are like layers of sediment that have silted over a harbor. It’s hard to get anywhere because it’s basically unlawful to make sensible decisions.
Philip K. Howard, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State
Public sector unions wield outsized influence over American government. That power prevents effective managerial control and fosters cynicism toward democratic processes. Successful statutory reforms to address outsized union power are unlikely because of the political resources amassed by these unions. To combat the influence of public sector unions, which serve their own interests instead of the common good, this brief explores five possible constitutional challenges that might dislodge union controls and weaken their grip on power.
Philip K. Howard, The Orange County Register (Everyday Freedom excerpt)
Look at American culture. Something basic is missing. Americans know it. Nothing much works as it should. Simple daily choices seem fraught with peril. In the workplace, we walk on eggshells. Big projects—say, modernizing infrastructure—get stalled in years of review. Endemic social problems such as homelessness become, well, more endemic. Oh, there goes San Francisco. Doing what’s right is not on the table. Who’s to say what’s right? Extremism grows.
Powerlessness has become a defining feature of modern society. Americans at all levels of responsibility feel powerless to do what they think is needed.
Philip K. Howard, Newsweek
Here we are, led like sheep into an election to choose whether Joe Biden or Donald Trump should lead America at this perilous time. A clear majority disfavor the choice. Nor do the hot buttons of political debate between woke progressives vs. right wing conspiracists align with the views of most Americans.
Out in the real world, nothing much about government works as it should, with porous borders, broken schools, and homeless encampments. The list is long. Mandatory speech codes and other indignities of the nanny state fuel growing resentment.
Philip K. Howard, American Purpose
Americans have lost confidence in America. It’s not hard to see why. Broken schools, unaffordable health care, homelessness, decrepit infrastructure, and student mobs at universities readily come to mind.
The last three presidents have come to office promising “change we can believe in,” to “drain the swamp,” or to “build back better,” but government institutions seem beyond their control.
Pundits blame political polarization. But most public failures have little to do with policy or politics: They’re failures of execution.
Philip K. Howard, Law & Liberty
Trust in institutions is at all-time lows. Schools and hospitals are distrusted by two-thirds of Americans, large companies by even more, and Congress by almost everybody.
The one trust bright spot is small business, with a 65 percent trust level. What is it that small business has that other institutions do not? Small business retains the human connection. The guy in the local hardware store will talk with you about how to fix the problem. The lady at the cleaners will discuss the stain. The book shop proprietor will describe why she liked a book.
Philip K. Howard, News Items
Trump carried every county in Iowa except one, and now a solid majority in New Hampshire. What accounts for the Trump juggernaut? He obviously embodies something that many voters want.
My take is that all his serious rivals, now just Haley and Biden, have promised to be better leaders of the established order. But Trump embodies rejection, even disdain, for the establishment. As in 2016, he is lapping his challengers with his contempt for the Washington establishment and, indeed, for democracy itself. Americans are angry, and traditional campaigns based on character, policy proposals, and baby-kissing are not resonating.
Philip K. Howard, Washington Examiner
Put simply, democracy’s hierarchy for managing government no longer exists. Elected executives are largely powerless to manage public employees or redirect public resources. The people below them in the chain of responsibility, such as school principals, police chiefs, and supervisory officials, are similarly powerless. Every day, government employees across America do things that are designed to waste money and be ineffective.
Philip K. Howard, The Hill
Leaders from both parties for decades have kicked the can of federal deficits down the road. The Simpson-Bowles recommendations from 2010 — widely endorsed by responsible observers — were never seriously considered either by President Obama or by Republican leadership. Then huge COVID-19 subsidies came along, and the fiscal road now faces a dead end. Unless the deficits are dramatically reduced, Social Security payouts will risk cuts of around 25 percent within a decade.
Philip K. Howard, TIME
Today, in a runoff election for mayor, Chicago voters will choose either former teacher Brandon Johnson or former schools CEO Paul Vallas. What’s raising eyebrows is the funding of Johnson’s campaign: Over 90 percent has come from teachers unions and other public employee unions. Vallas has the endorsement of the police union, but his funding is more diverse, including business leaders and industrial unions. Just looking at the money, the race comes down to this: Public employees vs everyone else plus cops.
Philip K. Howard, National Review (Not Accountable excerpt)
Accountability is basically nonexistent in American government today. Performance doesn’t matter; many public managers tell me they’ve never seen a public employee dismissed for poor performance. The Minneapolis Police Department had received 2,600 complaints in the decade before the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Twelve led to discipline, of which the most severe was a 40-hour suspension.
Philip K. Howard, Chicago Tribune
Amendment 1 to the Illinois Constitution, approved by referendum in November, was promoted as guaranteeing basic fairness for all workers. But it does something else — by prohibiting any new laws that might impinge on worker collective bargaining, Amendment 1 disempowers future elected officials from changing how government operates. Illinois voters will elect governors, mayors and legislators who have been disempowered from fulfilling their main constitutional responsibility: to make decisions on how to best operate government for the public good.
Philip K. Howard, The Daily Beast
Derek Chauvin, the policeman who killed George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, had a history of citizen complaints and was thought to be “tightly wound,” not a trait ideal for someone patrolling the streets with a deadly weapon. But under the police union’s collective bargaining agreement, the police commissioner lacked the authority to dismiss Derek Chauvin, or even to reassign him.
Philip K. Howard, Reason (Not Accountable excerpt)
No society, organization, or group of people can function effectively without accountability. Accountability is essential for mutual trust. The prospect of accountability is the backdrop for a culture of shared energy and values. "A social organism of any sort whatever, large or small, is what it is because each member proceeds to his own duty," philosopher William James noted, "with a trust that the other members will simultaneously do theirs."
Philip K. Howard, Marketwatch
The paralysis of modern democracies is often blamed on polarized politics. But there are structural causes for paralysis as well. These structural defects predated and fostered extremism and must be fixed for democracy to work again.
Philip K. Howard, Newsweek
Philip argues that the disease that most threatens American democracy is distrust, and what’s needed to combat it is a governing vision that engages Americans to help make things work better.
Philip K. Howard, New England Diary
What can we do about our country? That’s the question I hear most often. Washington is mired in a kind of trench warfare, with no prospects of forward movement. And Americans today can be divided into two camps: discouraged or angry.
Philip K. Howard, USA Today
America needs a new public narrative with new leaders. The key, is to replace red tape with human responsibility.
Philip K. Howard, Newsweek
Philip explains why a free society cannot long survive, or move forward, without the keel of authority.
Philip K. Howard, American Purpose
Philip discusses Andrew Yang’s new party, and how he would reframe it. “To get Americans out of their easy chairs,” he writes, “the new party must light a bonfire.”
Philip K. Howard, The Hill
Philip discusses Common Good’s proposal for a nonpartisan National Infrastructure Board.
Philip K. Howard, Education Next
Philip reviews Cass Sunstein’s book Sludge, which targets the broad phenomenon of bureaucratic accretion across all areas of society.
Philip K. Howard, The Ripon Society
Philip argues that democracy has been suffocated by bureaucracy, and can't work if elected leaders have been disempowered by rigid rules and expansive rights.