Mark Hemingway has written a damning piece on “human rights” and “civil rights” commissions. Most people live in total ignorance of “human rights” or “civil rights” commissions, until they run afoul of them. They began popping up all over the country in the 1960s and ’70s, and now nearly every state and good-sized municipality has […]
Eli Lehrer, “Dead in the Water: The Fede
Eli Lehrer has written an interesting article on the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). As he frames it, this insurance program illustrative of the challenge of taking a clever policy idea and translating it into a successful program. Between idea and action are politics and administration, both of which are critical to the success of a […]
Do We Still Need Public Libraries? Part ...
A few weeks back, I wrote this think piece about public libraries in America. Technology, clearly, has played a role in confusing the purpose(s) of libraries. For example, the recent move by libraries to put big money into IT systems that permit patrons to borrow e-books has been questioned. On January 22, 2013, the New […]
Paul Goldberger “A Monumental Conflict,”
For those of you who have visited Washington, DC, the site in question is directly across from the National Air and Space Museum. Currently, there is a small vegetable garden there and a dozen or two parking spaces. As this story shows, the effort to establish an Eisenhower memorial has become a mess. One aspect […]
Bob Woodward, “Time for Leaders to Deleg
Bob Woodward has proferred an interesting idea—elected official should delegate greater responsibility for crafting a budget deal. He points out that congressional staff were awfully close to a deal in October 2011 that raised revenues and cut spending. Woodward writes, Some staffers were ready to break out the champagne. They had a pipeline straight […]
Patrick B. Pexton, “The Post Needs Less
In an episode of the West Wing, a reporter tells the Bartlet Administration he is not going to write about a mini-scandal. When asked why, he pithily responds, “It’s gossip, not news.” Politics and personality do matter. To get things done, it certainly helps to have people who can get along with one another. (See […]