 Efficiency gains A lot of US government work is highly inefficient, says the science reformer Stuart Buck. Federally funded scientists say they spend 44% of their research time on bureaucracy, federal procurement is “broken” and often results in the government buying products that don’t work, and “the Paperwork Reduction Act paradoxically results in endless paperwork.” “Many such cases,” says Buck. “We should have an official effort to address these issues… We could even call it a ‘Department of Government Efficiency.’” As you might be aware, there is one: It is “widely viewed as a failure,” but the basic idea is sound. How could we make it good? The first step, says Buck, would be taking a long time to deeply understand how each government agency works, so you don’t mistake routine human error or some statistical artifact for fraud. Second, it should focus on high-value reforms, like outdated data systems or software. Third, it should learn from previous attempts to cut red tape — because there have been many, not all of which worked. And importantly, a good DOGE would not mistake things we don’t use for “waste” — like an insurance policy, we hope pandemic preparedness infrastructure and fire departments are never used, but they’re in place in case we need them. The real-world DOGE is a failure, says Buck, because it ignored all of these strictures. Democracy manifest Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor shocked pollsters and especially the party’s grandees. The 33-year-old democratic socialist is now a commanding frontrunner for the election itself in November; NYC has elected Republican mayors, but is a liberal city. Suggested explanations for his unexpected win — he was polling at 1% in early surveys — include an unexpected appetite for leftist candidates, Mamdani’s own talents as a candidate, and a terrible campaign by his main opponent Andrew Cuomo. All of those are likely true to a large extent, says the pollster Nate Silver, but Silver chooses to emphasize a fourth theme: That “the Democratic establishment is out to lunch,” with most of its bigwigs backing Cuomo, “an obviously flawed candidate.” The party made similar mistakes in the past three presidential races, he says; Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris were all “eat-your-spinach” choices, at least partly given the role because it was seen as their “turn.” Mamdani, literally half Cuomo’s age, is a sign that “generational turnover in the Democratic Party is coming whether they like it or not.” A matter of life and death “Life is not short exactly,” writes the British lawmaker Neil O’Brien, “but it’s definitely not long enough.” His family experienced loss this year, and it has made him consider what matters. He focuses in particular on his children, and seeing things through their eyes. “As all this has been going on,” he says, “they are busy: collecting strawberries, learning to write, singing in their tiny birdlike voices, and generally making a mess wherever they go.” In particular, he thinks about memory; one recent sadness was an Alzheimer’s diagnosis in the family. “Do we get to choose what we do hang onto?” he asks. The most profound memories of his own parents are the emotional ones: The egg with toast soldiers his mother used to make; the wooden plane his father built him. “If I get to choose,” he says, “I will forget the times our children drove us crazy… I’ll remember instead my son watering the flowers. I will remember lying next to him as he goes to sleep, looking up at the luminous stars his mother put on his bedroom roof. His little breaths lengthening into sleep, and me beside him, stargazing.” |
