How to Restore Everyday Freedom in America - Dean Kehler

How to Restore Everyday Freedom in America - Dean Kehler

 

The publication of Philip Howard’s new book, Everyday Freedom: Designing the Framework for a Flourishing Society, is especially timely at the start of an election year, as voters think about who will lead our country, and what constitutes good government. Everyday Freedom describes a much-needed path to get our country back on track by restoring individual agency and human judgment, and by reframing legal process around the common good. The author takes a refreshing, constructive, non-partisan approach to subject matter that often lends itself to partisan squabbling.

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Philip Howard has been in the public eye for decades offering insightful analysis of how government functions, exposing difficult problems and recommending bold solutions. He first came to national attention with his 1995 landmark bestseller The Death of Common Sense. In this and subsequent works, Howard explored important issues such as the counterproductive effects of overly prescriptive regulation, delays in essential infrastructure permitting, and how excessive litigation affects the provision of healthcare.

 

In Everyday Freedom, Howard confronts a much broader issue: the societal cost—he calls it the “corrosion of American culture”—of a legal system that renders citizens and officials powerless to do the right thing. He writes:

 

“For several decades I’ve dissected the failures of government and discussed the need for simplified structures that allow government to accomplish its goals without stifling Americans’ freedom. … I now see that the greater danger is not ineffective government, but the corrosion of American culture. Alienation has become a plague: Many Americans no longer believe in America. That’s largely because, I argue here, they no longer have the freedom to take responsibility in their daily choices.”

 

Howard cites real-world examples where the current governing framework has:

 

“…created new anxieties and risks [that have] seeped down into practically every societal interaction. Employers stopped giving honest performance reviews or job references. Doctors avoided candor with colleagues and practiced defensive medicine. Schools restricted children’s play. Vital institutions diverted huge parts of their budgets to legal compliance. Police departments, schools, and other public departments became less effective because the people in charge no longer had management authority. Public institutions lost their ability to move forward, as if their hub was disconnected from the spokes.”

 

We see these things every day. We endure this and more—after all, what can we do?

 

The first thing we can do is to understand the scope of the problem and agree that it is a problem. The second thing we can do is to understand how we got here, and why, so that we can address it. Howard helps us with both.

 

He traces this wide variety of seemingly unrelated failures back to their common origin: a rules-based, one-size-fits-all, legal system in which an exaggerated view of individual rights supersedes judgment and common sense. He explains that modern legal process usurps individual responsibility and discourages value judgments, as if making judgments based on values is somehow bad.

 

Having defined the problem, Howard gives us hope and suggests a way forward. He cites the recent, real-world example where the Governor of Pennsylvania threw out the rule book to design and implement a bridge replacement over I-95 in 12 days rather than 12 months. He notes that churches, synagogues, and the community charities that Tocqueville so admired continue to exist, and that this framework of local organizations can be an important ingredient in returning authority to communities and to individuals.

 

The tough message of Everyday Freedom is that American government has suffered for years from systemic failure that does not change even with changes of leadership. Howard’s hopeful message is that, while change is difficult, it is possible if we adopt a coherent governing vision centered on a belief in what he calls “everyday freedom:”

 

“What’s missing is belief in our own beliefs. Doing what’s right and sensible requires individual judgments by the responsible person. That’s what taking responsibility means—making value judgments, not avoiding them; taking risks where needed, not avoiding them; aspiring to a better world, not clinging to the status quo.”

 

Everyday Freedom points us back toward personal liberty, common sense, and a functioning government. It is a tour de force, a must-read for policymakers and for anyone else seeking to understand how we came to where we are, and what we need to do about it.

 

The author, Dean Kehler, is a Managing Partner of Trimaran Capital Partners, a private investment firm he co-founded in 1998. He has served on the boards of a variety of public and private companies and non-profit organizations.