The Centrist Majority of Voters Want Government Overhaul

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.

The political parties point fingers instead of offering visions for better government. The Democratic Party finds itself in a vise, squeezed by competing interests and unable to lead anywhere new. Its political strategy is never-Trump.

The Trump-led Republican Party is on a roll with its attacks on the broken institutions of government. But Trump has no vision for how to govern better, and it’s hard to see him leading reforms that unify the country.

Nothing good is likely to come from this free-for-all. “Men wonder to see into how small a number of weak and worthless hands a great people may fall,” as philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville predicted. Americans who are politically homeless are attracted to the prospect of a third party, but many fear it will assure Trump’s election.

What’s needed is not a new party, but a political movement that can redirect the trajectory of one or both parties. The American public is starving for a new governing vision that addresses public failures and gets government off our backs. Partisan advisers say wait until after the election. But the election is likely to turn on a tiny percentage of votes in a few states. Why would candidates not offer a vision that addresses the wave of resentment?

Political leaders wear blinders and engage only in the tedious debate over the size of government: more government vs. de-regulation. But most public failures are failures of execution, as with schools, homelessness, immigration, and infrastructure permitting. What Americans need most is a vision to transform how government works, not the exhausting tug-of-war over the scope of government.

The new vision I propose is this: Put humans in charge. Give people the authority to solve problems, and give other people the authority to hold them accountable. That’s how the Constitution works, all 7,500 words of it. The micromanagement approach to governing, by comparison, has resulted in federal law and regulation that is about 150 million words and growing.

Governing isn’t this hard. Area by area, thick rulebooks should be replaced by simpler frameworks. Reinstate clear lines of authority to implement public goals—to shore up the border, to give permits for transmission lines, to relocate the homeless to newly-built dorms, to suspend students who cancel speakers, and to reorganize lousy schools.

Nor should America be riven by cultural battles. Within broad boundaries, let communities run schools and social services in accord with their own values. Take churches and synagogues out of the legal penalty box, so they can replace bloodless bureaucracies. In the land of the First Amendment, give Americans back the freedom to be candid with each other.

Revive the institutions of society, such as hospitals and private employers, by re-empowering the human authority needed to sustain cultures of excellence and camaraderie. In hospitals, this requires clear-cutting most of the red tape, so that doctors and nurses can focus on patient care instead of spending half the day on legal and reimbursement compliance.

No longer allow self-interested people to claim individual rights over other free citizens. Rights should be a shield against state coercion, not a sword of state power against other free citizens. What about our rights?

The corrosion of American culture can be traced to a change in legal philosophy after the 1960s to safeguard against human error. Dense rulebooks and lengthy procedures told people not only what to do, but exactly how to do it.

The theory was that law would prevent unwise or unfair choices. The actual effect was to preclude choices that are sensible and fair. Everyday life in America became a slog through a legal thicket. Spontaneity, which Hannah Arendt considered the “most elementary manifestation of human freedom,” can now get you fired.

Simpler frameworks that re-empower Americans to take responsibility could hardly be more traditional. But the change will be a historic correction of governing philosophy by replacing the red tape state with human responsibility. It will feel like de-regulation, since people will be able make sense of daily choices, but the effect will be to make sure regulation actually works.

America’s governing system is broken. Everyone knows it. The only coherent alternative is to put humans in charge again. Once that idea gets in people’s heads, it will have a force that neither party can ignore.

Philip K. Howard is an author, attorney, and chair of Common Good. His new book is Everyday Freedom.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.