Can the Government Be More Effective?
William D. Eggers discusses what he's learned about making the government less intrusive.
HD DownloadWilliam D. Eggers is co-author, with Donald F. Kettl, of Bridgebuilders: How Government Can Transcend Boundaries to Solve Big Problems. He's now the executive director of Deloitte's Center for Government Insights, but 30 years ago, he ran the privatization center for Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes Reason.
Eggers has since worked with dozens of governments at all levels, both in the United States and internationally, and he's written a shelf's worth of books on the proper scope and function of government. Reason's Nick Gillespie talked with Eggers about Bridgebuilders, what he's learned over the past three decades about making government more effective and less intrusive, and why it's long past time to move beyond what he and his co-author call "the vending machine model" of government.
- Video Editor: Adam Czarnecki
- Audio Production: Ian Keyser
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Fuck Joe Biden
The only possible way for government to be effective at anything is to punish it's workers failures with death.
The Empire remains the best depiction of this.
Can the Government Be More Effective?
Yes, by being slimmer, smaller, and getting the fuck out of the way. Government's role is that of referee and little else.
Can government become more effective? I hope not. In any case I don't think it can be more effective even if we decide it should.
Government can certainly become more productive by getting out of the way of productive private enterprises more. Does government WANT to be more effective? Certainly! Do they want to be more productive or let US be more productive? Not on your life! Never forget it for a moment.
Can it? Of course.
Will it? No way in hell.
Of course "effective" depends on several less obvious factors: what is the goal? Is the outcome actually the result of the action claimed? For example, if King Knut stands on the shore with arms outstretched at high tide and claims that the tide was held back by his standing on the beach with arms outstretched, was his intervention effective?
Less is more.
The endless cycle:
Federal bureaucratic staffers write a bullshit law.
Self-serving incompetent politicians pass law.
States and cities receive grant money and/or regulatory compliance tied to taking fed money.
States/cities use the above as the reason they must hire a director and staff to "enact" law and report on compliance.
Taxpayers lose but still vote in same old guard.
Rinse and repeat
The question was: "Is this endless cycle evidence of effectiveness and, if so, could the government be more effective?"
Can Matthew Perry be anymore vaccinated?
Can Reason become libertarian?