Philip K. Howard

This is one book that I would like to read as a part of a book club. Especially a book club with both liberal and conservative members. The only way I will be able to solidify my opinion of this book is through discussion.
In short the book proposes reducing our reliance on laws and increasing reliance on individuals taking responsibility for what they see in front of them. The author then proposes five new amendments to the us constitution: the first is that every law that impacts budgets will have a sunset clause; the second and the third reinstate power to the executive branch; the fourth requires judges to approve a lawsuit before the potential defendant has to respond at all (ideally to prevent harassing litigation); and the last enacts a council of citizens who will essentially be a nonpartisan advisory body to congress.
Interesting ideas that I broadly agree with but have to think seriously about the ramifications.… (mais)

"This town needs an enema." So said Jack Nicholson's "Joker" about the dysfunctionality of Gotham City in Tim Burton's 1989 movie, "Batman." In "The Rule of Nobody," author Philip K. Howard embraces Joker's sentiments exactly, save that Howard's disgust is aimed squarely at Washington D.C. Regardless of one's political stripe, the list of what's badly broken in national politics far exceeds the tally of what's working well. In this book, Howard illustrates the vast and litigious space separating common sense from bureaucratic inertia in modern America. Surely many ailments explain the malady, and just as surely one of the more prominent among them is bureaucratic malaise brought about by countless aged and conflicting rules and regulations as immortal as they are useless, if not downright dangerous. Thus the enema -- Howard's prescription to set things right in part is to vigorously seek and eliminate outdated federal bureaucratic regulations and regulators whose evolution has rendered them poisonous to the health of our national body politic. Howard's diagnosis, prognosis and suggested course of treatment all ring true. There's no politician alive who wouldn't benefit himself and his constituents by reading this book. You should read it, too.… (mais)