Podcast #31: Philip K. Howard on the Constitution, Washington Finger-Pointing, and Why It's So Hard to Change a Broken Legal System

Philip K. Howard is a renowned legal reformer and the author of three books. His latest work is The Rule of Nobody: Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government. Jon Stewart describes Howard as “an eminently reasonable, articulate advocate for common sense solutions,” adding: “No wonder no one listens to him.”

Recently, Howard joined NYPL for Books at Noon. He discussed the values of politicians, the worst problem with the Constitution, and why it’s so difficult to reform the American legal system. To the legal scholar, our legislative problems begin with a lack of accountability:

“I have a section in the book entitled ‘Washington as a Deviant Subculture.’ I don’t mean it as a joke… And this system is perfect for people in Washington. Who’s responsible for not balancing the budget? Nobody. Who’s responsible for not building the infrastructure? Nobody. They just point fingers at each other. Who’s responsible for anything? Nobody. It’s the rule of nobody.”

Howard worked with the Clinton-Gore Administration and says it is much harder to reform laws now than it was then. He elaborated:

“Almost without our noticing it, in the last fifty years, law and regulation have piled up—almost always for good purposes—in such a way and with such granularity that it’s increasingly difficult to do anything. Teachers can’t maintain order in the classroom. The president can’t build new infrastructure; it takes eight or ten years for the president of the United States to get approval. We can’t balance budgets because the budgets are set in legal concrete. Most of the budgets don’t even go to Congress for reauthorization.”

It might be easy to wonder if the problem begins with a completely problematic Constitution, but Howard clarified:

“By and large, the Constitution is a very good document. The one really serious flaw in the Constitution is our founders didn’t think about how much harder it would be to amend or repeal a law than it is to pass it in the first place, because as soon as a law is passed, it gets surrounded by a special interest group and no one wants to incur their wrath.”

You can listen to the full Philip K. Howard podcast on iTunes and check the complete Books at Noon season schedule to find out which authors you’ll be seeing during your Wednesday lunch break.