I am addicted to podcasts. In fact, I'm surprised I have any friends left here, because half of what I say starts with "I heard on this one podcast that..." I can't believe I ever lived life without podcasts. How did I survive?
It was recently brought to my attention that, as far as U.S. government is concerned, we owe a lot to bureaucracy. I know almost nothing about political science, but I always thought a good candidate was one who could get things done. Down with bureaucracy. It's such a dirty word. It makes it impossible for anyone to do anything. But after listening to the following podcast, I found myself defending bureaucracy:
This American Life Podcats #353: The Audacity of Government
The podcast is somewhat liberal, and I am not so liberal, but the premise of this episode makes you stop and think. It seems that the executive branch in the U.S. has been finding more and more ways to bypass the checks and balances of the judicial and legislative, especially under Bush. There are ways to ignore parts of a bill that don't suit the President and ways to disregard treaties that no longer suit America's pleasure. And the final part of the podcast talks about which of the candidates, McCain, Clinton, or Obama, are most likely to take advantage of this unruly president supposedly set by Bush. (I won't ruin it for you and tell you who they think is safest.) I thought I wanted a president who just got things done, but now I'm not so sure. I want one who follows the rules. I'm sure most of you reading this know more about political science than I do, so don't laugh. Just explain to me if I should be worried.
Speaking of bureaucracy, here's a podcast about reforming the electoral process. I love it when economist-types talk about politics, because they seem to have such good ideas:
From The Economist Podcast: Democracy in America, 26 March 2008: A New Crusade for Lawrence Lessig
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