How Progressives Broke the Government
"Lionizing government and then ensuring that it fails is a terrible political strategy."
What It’s About
Marc J. Dunkelman suggests that progressivism has been torn apart by two competing impulses: on the one hand, progressives want a powerful, effective government; on the other, they fear the potential abuse of centralized power. Through historical and contemporary examples, including the infamous mishandling of New York City's Wollman Rink in the 1980s, Dunkelman shows that progressive policies supposed to prevent government corruption and harm inadvertently prevent government effectiveness.
Upshot
Dunkelman argues that:
- Governance has been crippled by the best intentions: Successive waves of reform intended to check corruption have created so much bureaucracy that even basic projects have become inordinately expensive or impossible
- Voters seek decisive alternatives: Government incompetence drives voters toward charismatic, authoritarian figures delivering swift action no matter the cost
- Modern progressivism holds competing lineages: Modern progressives demonstrate a Jeffersonian instinct, distrusting large and powerful institutions, as well as a Hamiltonian instinct that seeks a capable and effective federal government. These two are at odds and together create bloated but impotent governance
Did you know? With the intention of preventing corruption but the effect of inefficiency, New York City laws forbids mayors from hiring general contractors for infrastructure projects.
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Why It Matters
Dunkelman offers a timely diagnosis of progressive governance failures and a perspective on what it takes to wield power effectively. Decades of accumulated constraints on government will need to be reversed to make it work.
Who Wrote It
Marc J. Dunkelman is a visiting fellow at Brown University’s Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions and author of Why Nothing Works and The Vanishing Neighbor: The Transformation of American Community.
