Ezra Klein

If you want to know why we didn't build California high-speed rail, if you want to know why it's so expensive to build affordable housing in a lot of liberal jurisdictions when you trigger public money, it is because of the regulations we put on government.

If you want to know why we didn't build California high-speed rail, if you want to know why it's so expensive to build affordable housing in a lot of liberal jurisdictions when you trigger public money, it is because of the regulations we put on government.

In the same way that deregulating the market can often allow corporations to do things they couldn't do before and move faster, you can decide in any given instance if that's good or bad, deregulating the government can do the same thing.

In the same way that deregulating the market can often allow corporations to do things they couldn't do before and move faster, you can decide in any given instance if that's good or bad, deregulating the government can do the same thing.

We're inspired here not by some conservative legal theorist, but by Nick Bagley, who was Gretchen Whitmer's former lead counsel and has this great point about the procedural fetish among liberal lawyers, where he kind of makes this whole argument that

We're inspired here not by some conservative legal theorist, but by Nick Bagley, who was Gretchen Whitmer's former lead counsel and has this great point about the procedural fetish among liberal lawyers, where he kind of makes this whole argument that

For some reason, liberals are always on the one hand defending against the Republicans' effort to wrap the government in paperwork and administrative procedure as a way of slowing it down. But they never realize that if they could unwrap it themselves, it could actually speed government up. So in general, I don't – like I'm quite left.

For some reason, liberals are always on the one hand defending against the Republicans' effort to wrap the government in paperwork and administrative procedure as a way of slowing it down. But they never realize that if they could unwrap it themselves, it could actually speed government up. So in general, I don't – like I'm quite left.

What I'm trying to build here is a much more capable government. So I consider myself on the left edge of this American debate. But we are trying to be much more agnostic. The problems are different in different places and in different domains. But if you had done Bernie Sanders' Green New Deal with the old environmental laws, you simply couldn't have built it.

What I'm trying to build here is a much more capable government. So I consider myself on the left edge of this American debate. But we are trying to be much more agnostic. The problems are different in different places and in different domains. But if you had done Bernie Sanders' Green New Deal with the old environmental laws, you simply couldn't have built it.

You just cannot build fast enough for what he wanted to do unless you really restructure that. And so again, going back to the core question that we're trying to get people to focus on in the book, what do we not have enough of and how do we get more of it?

You just cannot build fast enough for what he wanted to do unless you really restructure that. And so again, going back to the core question that we're trying to get people to focus on in the book, what do we not have enough of and how do we get more of it?

like to me what separates the left and the right are goals it's not just it's not means but i find that a lot of people in this debate they think they seem to think what separates the left and right is means right the right wants to deregulate the left wants to regulate but what i care about in regulation is whether or not it's achieving my goals or not if i'm regulating the market

like to me what separates the left and the right are goals it's not just it's not means but i find that a lot of people in this debate they think they seem to think what separates the left and right is means right the right wants to deregulate the left wants to regulate but what i care about in regulation is whether or not it's achieving my goals or not if i'm regulating the market

in a way that harms my goals, like making it too hard for developers to build market rate or affordable housing, then that's bad, even though my answer there would be deregulation. And if I've regulated government in a way that doesn't make sense for the government to achieve my goals. But what matters is the goals.

in a way that harms my goals, like making it too hard for developers to build market rate or affordable housing, then that's bad, even though my answer there would be deregulation. And if I've regulated government in a way that doesn't make sense for the government to achieve my goals. But what matters is the goals.

And too often, liberals are, I think, very symbolic in this and not outcomes oriented.

And too often, liberals are, I think, very symbolic in this and not outcomes oriented.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.