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Marc Andreesen @pmarca and @ErzaKlein are right to focus on the most enduring question to emerge from the COVID crisis: How could a society as rich and sophisticated as ours have been so flat-footed in the face of such a predictable crisis? A thread. https://www.vox.com/2020/4/22/21228469/marc-andreessen-build-government-coronavirus?fbclid=IwAR0TUzur3L1lAmwQSmLUzF8GYBBe5vlld3CkQRQrQIjhpnZ5d7iufztixlY
In 2005, I recall images of Katrina victims stranded atop their roofs as flood water rose. Watching, we all felt helpless. Where was the cavalry? Now we have the same feeling again—not enough tests, PPE, PPP funding etc. It’s infuriating. 2/x https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/7952322/Hurricane-Katrina-in-pictures.html?image=8
What’s so remarkable is that, in this case, the failure isn’t just of individuals—it’s a failure of institutions. And polling shows that it’s not just faith in government that’s in long-term decline—it’s schools, churches, banks, big business. 3/x https://news.gallup.com/poll/1597/confidence-institutions.aspx
There are essentially two possible reactions to the collapse of institutions. The first is to suggest that the problems are, in essence, due to the institutions themselves. Gov’ts corrupt. Parties are self-interested. Businesses are greedy. Etc. Bunch of truth in that. 4/x
The second option: We ought to reform these institutions, or replace them with something better. Few who think hard about these problems oppose reform—but it’s a lot less satisfying to think about what might come next than it is to tear the old bad thing down. 5/x
Probably the healthiest approach is to take some measure of both approaches. Get angry when an institution fails (as it has today with the virus, or as the world of finance did ahead of 2008, etc.). But realize that eviscerating them root-and-branch leaves dysfunction. 6/x
In the post-War era, America was too accepting of institutions, many of which were rife with racism, sexism, patriarchy—ugly, evil stuff. But now something interesting has happened. The right and left have both turned against institutions writ large. 7/x
That was the core of Trump’s message. Drain the swamp. Drown the elite. Rip up the system. But, from a very different angle, the left is just as angry at institutions. @DNC. Health insurers. Energy polluters. Big finance. 8/x
Don’t mean to do false equivalence. Left and right are different. Goals of those who want M4A and a Green ND are right. Eliminate the @EPA? Not so much. And the left nods its head to the big bureaucracies it would have to create later. 9/x
But let’s not kid ourselves: Those most politically engaged on this website on both sides want to blow what they see as broken system up. They don’t want half measures. In some cases, we need a revolution. 10/x
But when making big consequential public policy decisions, there are inevitably winners and losers. Not making tough decisions makes losers of everyone (Penn Station, COVID). Working “institutions” are uniquely equipped do that. We need them. 11/x https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2019/11/29/penn-station-robert-caro-073564
Interestingly, some on the left AND the right are thinking about this. @EzraKlein’s piece is important. @AlonLevy is exploring ridiculous cost of U.S. infrastructure. But Yuval Levin @NationalAffairs is also thinking about institutions. 12/x
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/18/opinion/sunday/institutions-trust.html?searchResultPosition=2
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/18/opinion/sunday/institutions-trust.html?searchResultPosition=2
Soon, critics will complain that “the establishment” is circling the wagons, preserving the system for those who already benefit. But the left in particular does itself harm by embracing that rhetoric for one big reason: 13/x
Our agenda depends on government WORKING. And if the impulse to fix government is either to destroy bureaucracies or add more and more vetoes against bad decisions, we forfeit the tool we need to fight inequality and promote widespread prosperity. 14/x
One last note: The race exception when faith in government went UP was when @BillClinton (my fmr boss) was president. One reason is that he was tough on bloated bureaucracy. He ran the Reinventing Government initiative. Outraged by waste. 15/x
https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/whoweare/historypart1.html
https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/whoweare/historypart1.html
If the left is going to argue that we want government to do more (Recall that Clinton shored up SS and Medicare, vast new investment is science and health, Children’s Health Insurance, etc), we first need to show government can work. Onward. END
