S62 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 21, 2010 SENATOR-ELECT SCOTT BROWN up to 10 minutes each. That time will that on health care, as well as on clean Mr. REID. Madam President, I had a be equally divided and controlled be- energy, debt reduction, and immigra- good conversation with Senator-elect tween the two leaders or their des- tion, for example, Republicans have SCOTT BROWN yesterday. He is coming ignees. The Republicans will control been offering the following alternative to Washington today. I look forward to the first half; the majority will control to 1,000-page bills: going step by step in visiting with him. We have a time set the final half. Following morning busi- the right direction to solve problems in for him to come by my office. ness, the Senate will resume consider- a way that re-earns the trust of the In my conversation with him, he ation of H.J. Res. 45, a joint resolution American people. Comprehensive immigration, com- seemed very pleasant and excited about increasing the statutory limit on the prehensive climate change, and com- coming to Washington, which I am sure public debt. Currently, we have three prehensive health care bills have been he is. We talked about his daughter amendments pending. We hope we can well intended, but the first two fell of going to Syracuse and the fact that reach short time agreements so we can schedule votes on these amendments. their own weight, and health care, if JOE BIDEN graduated from Syracuse, enacted, would be a historic mistake and he knew that. I look forward to our f for our country and a political kami- meeting with him. MEASURE PLACED ON kaze mission for Democrats. f CALENDAR—S. 2939 What has united most Republicans against these three bills has not only THE NIGERIAN TERRORIST Mr. REID. Madam President, I under- been ideology but also that they were stand that S. 2939, which was intro- Mr. REID. Madam President, I will comprehensive. As George Will might duced by Senator DEMINT, is at the speak briefly on the statement of my write: ‘‘The Congress. Does. Not. Do. desk and is due for a second reading. friend, the senior Senator from Ken- Comprehensive. Well.’’ tucky, about the Nigerian terrorist. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- Two recent articles help explain the The one thing we need not do is po- pore. The clerk will read the title of difference between the Democratic liticize the fight against terrorism. the bill for a second time. comprehensive approach and the Re- John Brennan did testify yesterday in The bill clerk read as follows: publican step-by-step approach. our classified briefing. It was classi- A bill (S. 2939) to amend title 31, United The first, which appeared in the new fied. The things that took place there States Code to require an audit of the Board journal, National Affairs, and was writ- should be classified. People should not of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ten by William Schambra of the Hud- and the Federal Reserve banks, and for other son Institute, explains the ‘‘sheer am- be talking about it. The reason that is purposes. the case is that we want people who bition’’ of President Obama’s legisla- come to classified briefings to be able Mr. REID. Madam President, I object tive agenda as the approach of what to speak freely. to any further proceedings on this bill Mr. Schambra calls a ‘‘policy Presi- We have had a long in our at this time. dent.’’ country of people who commit crimes The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- Mr. Schambra says the President and on our territory in the United States pore. Objection is heard, and the bill most of his advisers have been trained being tried in the United States, in- will be placed on the calendar under at elite universities to govern by cluding Richard Reid, the shoe bomber. rule XIV. launching ‘‘a host of enormous initia- It isn’t as if this is the first time some- f tives all at once . . . formulating com- prehensive policies aimed at giving thing like this happened. Even though RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME they are proceeding under civil courts, large social systems—and indeed soci- they can always drop back and fall into The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- ety itself—more rational and coherent the category of war criminals if, in pore. Under the previous order, leader- forms of functions.’’ fact, that choice is made. Just because ship time is reserved. This is governing by taking big bites of several big apples and trying to they are going forward in this manner f today doesn’t mean they cannot drop swallow them all at once. In addition, back in some other manner at a subse- MORNING BUSINESS according to Mr. Schambra, the most quent time. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- prominent organizational feature of the Obama administration is its reli- Even though I don’t like to discuss pore. Under the previous order, there ance on ‘‘czars’’—more than the Roma- what went on in a closed briefing, in a will now be a period of morning busi- novs, said one blogger—to manage classified setting, I was there from the ness for 1 hour, with the time equally broad areas of policy. In this view, sys- very beginning to the very end of Mr. divided and controlled between the two temic problems of health care, of en- Brennan’s presentation. I never heard leaders or their designees, with Sen- ergy, of education, and of the environ- him refuse to answer. In fact, he an- ators permitted to speak for up to 10 ment simply can’t be solved in pieces. swered the question that was asked in minutes each, with the Republicans Analyzing the article, David Broder a number of different ways by my controlling the first half and the ma- of the Washington Post wrote this: friend, the Republican leader, and an- jority controlling the final half. The Senator from Tennessee is recog- Historically, that approach has not other Republican Senator. So if there worked. The progressives failed to gain more are any questions about anything that nized. than a brief ascendency and the Carter and Mr. Brennan had to say, I hope that f Clinton presidencies were marked by strik- those questions will be asked directly ing policy failures. to him. We have had some open hear- HEALTH CARE The reason for these failures, as ings. Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, Broder paraphrased Schambra, is that My point is that there is a war on during our recent health care debate I ‘‘this highly rational comprehensive terror taking place now. I tried to be as heard a number of times from our approach fits uncomfortably with the supportive of President Bush during his friends on the other side of the aisle Constitution, which apportions power years as President when this was going this question: What are Republicans among so many different players.’’ on after 9/11. I hope my Republican col- for? Broder then adds this: leagues will be supportive of President Well, they will wait a long time if Democracy and representative government Obama. This is not a partisan issue. they are waiting for the Republican are a lot messier than the progressives and f leader, Senator MCCONNELL, to roll their heirs, including Obama, want to admit. into the Senate a wheelbarrow filled James Q. Wilson, a scholar, writing SCHEDULE with a 2,700-page Republican com- in a memorial essay honoring Irving Mr. REID. Madam President, this prehensive health care bill or, for that Kristol in a morning, following leader remarks, the matter, a 1,200-page climate change bill few months ago, says the law of unin- Senate will proceed to a period of or a 900-page immigration bill. tended consequences is what causes the morning business for an hour, with If you have been listening carefully failure of such comprehensive legisla- Senators allowed to speak therein for to the Senate debate, you will know tive schemes. Explains Wilson:

VerDate Nov 24 2008 23:34 Jan 21, 2010 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G21JA6.001 S21JAPT1 dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with SENATE January 21, 2010 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S63 Launch a big project and you will almost to pool their resources to purchase Human experience has always taught surely discover that you have created many health plans; No. 2, reducing junk law- that enough small steps in the right di- things you did not intend to create. suits against doctors; No. 3, allowing rection is one good way to get you Wilson also writes that the purchase of insurance across State where you want to go and also a good neoconservatism, as Kristol originally lines; No. 4, expanding health savings way along the way to avoid many un- conceived of it in the 1960s, was not an accounts; No. 5, promoting wellness expected and unpleasant consequences. organized ideology or even necessarily and prevention; and No. 6, taking steps Tuesday’s election in Massachusetts conservative, but ‘‘a way of thinking to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse. We is the latest reminder that the Amer- about politics rather than a set of prin- offered these six proposals in complete ican people are tired of risky, com- ciples and rules. . . . It would have legislative text. It totaled 182 pages, all prehensive schemes featuring taxes, been better if we had been called policy 6. The Democratic majority rejected debt, and Washington takeovers, as skeptics.’’ all six of our proposals and ridiculed well as lots of hidden and unexpected The skepticism of Schambra, Wilson, the approach, in part because our ap- surprises. It is time to declare that the and Kristol toward grand legislative proach was not comprehensive. era of the 1,000-page bill is over or the policy schemes helps to explain how Take another example. In July, all 40 era of the 2,000-page bill is over or the the law of unintended consequences has Republican Senators announced agree- era of the 2,700-page bill is over. A wise made being a member of the so-called ment on 4 steps to produce low-cost, approach would be to set a clear goal, ‘‘party of no’’ a more responsible clean energy and create jobs: No. 1, cre- such as reducing health care costs, ate 100 new nuclear powerplants or at choice than being a member of the so- take a few steps in that direction and least the environment in which they called party of ‘‘yes, we can’’—if these then a few more so that we can start could be built; No. 2, electrify half our three recent comprehensive bills on solving the country’s problems in a cars and trucks; No. 3, explore offshore health care, climate change, and immi- way that reearns the trust of the for natural gas and oil; and No. 4, dou- gration are the only choices. American people. Madam President, it is arrogant to ble energy research and development for new forms of energy. This step-by- Madam President, I ask unanimous imagine that 100 Senators are wise consent to have printed in the RECORD enough to reform comprehensively a step Republican clean energy plan is an alternative to the Kerry-Boxer na- an article from the Wall Street Journal health care system that constitutes 17 of Monday, September 21, written by percent of the world’s largest economy tional energy tax which would impose an economy-wide cap-and-trade James Q. Wilson, an article by David and affects 300 million Americans of Broder from the Washington Post of disparate backgrounds and cir- scheme, driving jobs overseas looking for cheap energy and collecting hun- September 24, and an article from the cumstances. magazine National Affairs written by How can we be sure, for example, dreds of billions of dollars each year for a slush fund with which Congress can William Schambra. that one unintended consequence of There being no objection, the mate- spending $2.5 trillion more for health play. Here is another example. In 2005, a bi- rial was ordered to be printed in the care over 10 years will not be higher partisan group of us in Congress asked RECORD, as follows: costs and more debt? Won’t new taxes the National Academies to identify the [From the Wall Street Journal, Sept. 21, be passed along to consumers, raising first 10 steps Congress should take to 2009] health insurance premiums and dis- preserve America’s competitive advan- A LIFEINTHEPUBLIC INTEREST couraging job growth? Won’t charging tage in the world so we could keep (By James Q. Wilson) insolvent States $25 billion over 3 years growing jobs. The academies appointed for a Medicaid expansion raise State Irving Kristol not only helped change the a distinguished panel, including now- country, he changed lives. He certainly taxes and college tuitions? Ask any Secretary Chu, that recommended 20 changed mine. Governor. And how can a Senator be so such steps. Congress enacted two- When I was a young faculty member at sure that some provision stuck in a thirds of them. The America COM- Harvard, I learned that he, along with Daniel 2,700-page partisan bill in secret meet- PETES Act of 2007, as we call it, was Bell, had just created The Public Interest. I wrote him to say how enthused I was to find ings and voted on during a snowstorm far-reaching legislation, but it was at 1 a.m. will not come back around a magazine that published serious but jar- fashioned step by step. gon-free essays in which scholars analyzed and slap him or her in the face, such as Another example. When I was Gov- trying to explain why Nebraska got a public policy. Irving called back to invite me ernor of Tennessee in the 1980s, my to join him and his wife, Gertrude cornhusker kickback to pay for its goal was to raise family incomes for Himmelfarb, for dinner when I was next in Medicaid expansion and my State did what was then the third poorest State. New York City. not? As I went along, I found that the best I was overwhelmed. The founding editor of James Q. Wilson also wrote in his way to move toward that goal was step an important magazine was inviting an un- essay that respect for the law of unin- by step—some steps smaller, some known young writer to have dinner with tended consequences ‘‘is not an argu- steps larger—such as changing banking him. I went as soon as I could. It was a nice meal, and Irving asked me to ‘‘write some- ment for doing nothing, but it is one, laws, defending right-to-work policies, in my view, for doing things experi- thing’’ for the journal. ‘‘Write what?’’ I re- keeping debt and taxes low, recruiting plied. ‘‘I will send you a government report mentally. Try your idea out in one Japanese industry, and then the auto you should discuss,’’ he suggested. He did, place and see what happens before you industry, building four-lane highways and I wrote about it for the magazine’s sec- inflict it on the whole country,’’ he so suppliers could get to the auto ond issue. My piece was, at best, pedestrian, suggests. plants, and then a 10-step better but I was hooked. If you will examine the CONGRES- schools program, 1 step of which made Reading the magazine became the center SIONAL RECORD, you will find that Re- Tennessee the first State to pay teach- of my nonteaching life. I learned what Pat publican Senators have been following ers more for teaching well. I did not Moynihan, Robert Nisbet, Jacques Barzun, Mr. Wilson’s advice, proposing a step- Martin Diamond, , Nathan Glazer, try to turn our whole State upside James Coleman, Peter Drucker and count- by-step approach to confronting our down all at once, but working with less others thought about public policy. It Nation’s challenges 173 different times leaders in both parties, I did help it was a new world: Thoughtful people with during 2009. May I say that again? Dur- change and grow step by step. Within a real knowledge were discussing public policy ing 2009, Republican Senators, 173 dif- few years, we were the fastest growing at a time, the mid-1960s, when the federal ferent times on the floor of the Senate, State in family incomes. government was acting as if anything were have proposed a step-by-step approach According to a recent survey by On possible. toward health care and other of our Message Inc., 61 percent of Independ- These writers were discussants, not pun- Nation’s challenges. ents, 60 percent of ticket splitters, and dits. They wrote long essays (happily, free of On health care, for example, we first footnotes) analyzing which policies might 77 percent of Republicans answered yes work and which would not. They did not suggested setting a clear goal; that is, to the following question: I would rath- utter slogans, they assumed there were intel- reducing costs. Then we proposed the er see Congress take a more thoughtful ligent readers out there, and for the most first six steps toward achieving that step-by-step approach focusing on com- part did not embrace a party line. A maga- goal: No. 1, allowing small businesses monsense reforms. zine that later was said to be the founding

VerDate Nov 24 2008 23:34 Jan 21, 2010 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G21JA6.002 S21JAPT1 dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with SENATE S64 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 21, 2010 document of the neoconservative movement In time I think The Public Interest began on rational analysis, rather than narrow de- published work by Robert Solow, James to speak more in one voice and the number cisions, on everything from missile defense Tobin, Christopher Jencks, Charles Reich, of liberals who wrote for it declined. Every to Afghanistan—and all the big issues at Charles Lindblom and many other con- magazine acquires a character just as every home. spicuous nonconservatives. human has a personality. That character was ‘‘In one policy area after another,’’ It was the right moment. President Lyn- sharpened and reinforced by the cultural rev- Schambra writes, ‘‘from transportation to don Johnson was trying to create a new po- olution of the late 1960s, which required of , urban policy to auto policy, Obama’s litical era by asking the government to do liberal skeptics that they become not merely formulation is virtually identical: Selfish- things that not even Franklin Roosevelt had critics of ill-advised policies but defenders of ness or ideological rigidity has led us to look endorsed, and to do it in a period of pros- the nation to which those policies might at the problem in isolated pieces . . . we perity. The large majorities his party had in apply. must put aside parochialism to take the long Congress as a result of Johnson’s decisive de- Irving Kristol’s talents were remarkable: systemic view; and when we finally formu- feat of Barry Goldwater in 1964 made it pos- He did for The Public Interest what he had late a uniform national policy supported by sible to create Medicare and Medicaid and to earlier done for Commentary, the Reporter empirical and objective data rather than adopt major federal funding for local school and Encounter—find good people and induce shallow, insular opinion, we will arrive at so- systems. He created the Department of them to say important things even when it lutions that are not only more effective but Transportation and the Department of Hous- did not improve the revenues of the maga- less costly as well. This is the mantra of the ing and Urban Development. Johnson him- zine. The Public Interest always relied on fi- policy presidency.’’ self called what he was doing the creation of nancial support from a few friends and rarely a ‘‘Great Society.’’ sold more than 12,000 copies. That didn’t [From National Affairs] I was a small part of that world. I chaired bother Irving at all: What counts is who OBAMA AND THE POLICY APPROACH a White House task force on crime for the reads it, not how many read it. And for 40 (By William Schambra) president. It was a distinguished panel but years a lot of important people did read it. after much effort we made very few useful Nine months into his tenure, the patterns I was upset when the magazine ceased recommendations. It slowly dawned on me of President ’s style of gov- being published in the spring of 2005. With that, important as the rising crime rate was, erning are becoming clear. Obama had no ex- others I struggled to find a new home. There nobody knew how to make it a lot smaller. ecutive experience when he took the presi- were some good possibilities for a new ven- We assumed, of course, that the right policy dential oath last winter—but he did come in ture, but in time Irving said no, ‘‘Forty was to eliminate the ‘‘root causes’’ of crime, with a particular idea of what politics and years is enough.’’ And now for Irving, 89 but scholars disagreed about what many of government are for, and how they ought to those causes were and where they did agree years is enough—he died Friday of lung can- work. It is a view grounded in Progressive they pointed to things, such as abusive fami- cer. Losing him is like losing your favorite politics, and shared by a number of Demo- lies, about which a democratic government uncle: A wise and cheerful man who knew so cratic chief executives in recent decades. But can do very little. much about so many things and would al- Obama has articulated it, and his adminis- The view that we know less than we ways help you out. tration has embodied it, more fully than thought we knew about how to change the most. human condition came, in time, to be called [From the Washington Post, Sept. 24, 2009] Perhaps the most distinctive political neoconservatism. Many of the writers, my- MR. POLICY HITS A WALL characteristic of the Obama administration thus far is the sheer ambition of its early self included, disliked the term because we (By David S. Broder) legislative agenda, which seeks to move a did not think we were conservative, neo or A new publication came across my desk paleo. (I voted for John Kennedy, Lyndon host of enormous initiatives all at once. The this week containing an essay that offers as administration’s most prominent organiza- Johnson and Hubert Humphrey and worked good an insight into President Obama’s ap- in the latter’s presidential campaign.) It tional feature, meanwhile, is its reliance on proach to government as anything I have issue ‘‘czars’’ to manage broad areas of pol- would have been better if we had been called read—and is particularly useful in under- policy skeptics; that is, people who thought icy. By the end of his first summer in office, standing the struggle over health-care re- Obama had named some 35 such policy super- it was hard, though not impossible, to make form. useful and important changes in public pol- intendents—‘‘more czars than the Roma- The publication is called National Affairs, novs,’’ as one blogger quipped—overseeing icy. and its advisory board is made up of noted Whatever the authors were called, their matters ranging from health-care reform, conservative academics from James W. best essays reflected one general view: Let us energy, and regulation to stimulus account- Ceaser to James Q. Wilson. The article that use social science to analyze an existing pol- ability, corporate executive compensation, caught my eye, ‘‘Obama and the Policy Ap- icy to see if it works at a reasonable cost. cyber security, and the Great Lakes. proach,’’ was written by William Schambra, This meant that these writings were back- Both his ambition and his unique style of director of the Hudson Institute’s Bradley ward looking in a world when liberals were issue management show that Obama is em- Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal. relentlessly forward looking. If you look phatically a ‘‘policy approach’’ president. Schambra, like many others, was struck carefully at what has been done rather than For him, governing means not just address- by the ‘‘sheer ambition’’ of Obama’s legisla- announce boldly what ought to be done, you ing discrete challenges as they arise, but for- tive agenda and by his penchant for central- will be called, I suppose, a conservative. We mulating comprehensive policies aimed at izing authority under a strong White House were lucky, I imagine, not to be called giving large social systems—and indeed soci- staff replete with many issue ‘‘czars.’’ reactionaries. ety itself—more rational and coherent forms Irving Kristol smiled through all of this. Schambra sees this as evidence that and functions. In this view, the long-term, He did not care what we were called and he ‘‘Obama is emphatically a ‘policy approach’ systemic problems of health care, education, gave to one of his published collections of es- president. For him, governing means not just and the environment cannot be solved in says the title, ‘‘Neoconservativism: the addressing discrete challenges as they arise, small pieces. They must be taken on in Autobiography of an Idea.’’ He explained but formulating comprehensive policies whole, lest the unattended elements react why that tendency differs from traditional aimed at giving large social systems—and in- against and undo the carefully orchestrated conservatism: Neoconservatism is not an ide- deed society itself—more rational and coher- policy measures. ology, but a ‘‘persuasion.’’ That is, it is a ent forms and functions. In this view, the The ‘‘policy approach’’ Obama seems to be way of thinking about politics rather than a long-term, systemic problems of health care, embracing was best articulated by Daniel set of principles and rules. If education, and the environment cannot be Patrick Moynihan in his classic essay ‘‘Pol- neoconservatism does have any principle, it solved in small pieces. They must be taken icy vs. Program in the 1970s,’’ published in is this one: the law of unintended con- on in whole.’’ the Summer 1970 issue of The Public Inter- sequences. Launch a big project and you will He traces the roots of this approach to the est. ‘‘A policy approach to government,’’ almost surely discover that you have created progressive movement of the late 19th and Moynihan wrote, begins ‘‘by seeking to en- many things you did not intend to create. early 20th centuries, when rapid social and compass the largest possible range of phe- This is not an argument for doing nothing, economic change created a politics domi- nomena and concerns.’’ This means, to begin but it is one, in my view, for doing things ex- nated by interest-group struggles. The pro- with, that ‘‘everything relates to every- perimentally. Try your idea out in one place gressives believed that the cure lay in apply- thing,’’ and therefore that ‘‘there are no so- and see what happens before you inflict it on ing the new wisdom of the social to cial interests about which the national gov- the whole country. the art of government, an approach in which ernment does not have some policy or I recall when Nathan Glazer and I spoke at facts would heal the clash of ideologies and other.’’ But these policies cannot simply a conference on neoconservatism organized narrow constituencies. consist of discrete interventions meant to by The Partisan Review. Nat and I made all Obama—a highly intelligent product of address particular concerns. Public prob- of these points about caution, experimen- elite universities—is far from the first lems, arising in intricate social systems, are tation and unintended consequences only to Democratic president to subscribe to this ap- just too complex for that. Instead, policy be told by one of the Review’s editors that proach. Jimmy Carter, and especially Bill should aim to give the system as a whole the this was not enough: To be serious about pol- Clinton, attempted to govern this way. But proper shape, and then the elaborate array of itics, one had to have an organized ideology. Obama has made it even more explicit, regu- programs, rules, incentives, pressures, and Well, the Review certainly did. larly proclaiming his determination to rely intentions will better fall into place.

VerDate Nov 24 2008 01:43 Jan 22, 2010 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A21JA6.004 S21JAPT1 dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with SENATE January 21, 2010 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S65 Writ large, this approach suggests that nomenon is indissolubly linked to every accreted to the point that we now had rea- government exists not to attend to the var- other.’’ sonable assurance of bending society and ious problems in the life of a society, but to The professional social scientist—the econ- economy to our will, he argued. And the take up society itself as a problem—and im- omist, sociologist, psychologist, and polit- project of reform was attracting larger seg- prove it. The consequent expansion of the ical scientist—now had a critical role to play ments of the middle class—who, benefiting reach of government, proponents of this view in society because, as Haskell points out, ‘‘it from expanding , were intro- contend, is not driven by anything as crude was largely through his explanatory prowess duced to the allure of the ‘‘independence of as presidential ambition or ‘‘socialist’’ ide- that men might learn to understand their judgment, esoteric knowledge, and immu- ology. It is simply a realistic and pragmatic complex situation, and largely through his nity to outside criticism that characterize response to the inexorable demands of the predictive ability that men might coopera- professionals.’’ Public policy now tended to web of social reality. tively control society’s future.’’ As the respond not to social movements, but rather To address social problems this way, the prominent Progressive (and founder of the to the concerns of the professionals—not policymaker must put himself outside the New Republic) Herbert Croly put it, ‘‘in the only because of their superior expertise, but circle of those whom he governs, and, in- more complex, the more fluid, and the more also because they were reaching a critical formed especially by social science, see be- highly energized, equipped, and differen- mass within the institutions of government yond their narrow clashing interests. This tiated society of today,’’ the ‘‘cohesive ele- and the economy. presents a problem in the politics of a de- ment’’ would be ‘‘the completest social Political scientist Samuel Beer summa- mocracy, of course, since most citizens (and record,’’ which could be assembled only by rized the increasingly autonomous role the self-interested politicians they elect) ei- social-science experts ‘‘using social knowl- played by experts in the Great Society and ther are baffled by or deliberately ignore so- edge in the interest of valid social purposes.’’ subsequent administrations as ‘‘the techno- cial complexity and interrelatedness. The re- This conviction became the basis for the cratic takeover.’’ As he put it, with all major sulting truncated policies, reflecting Progressive political movement in early contemporary policy problems, ‘‘it has been, unenlightened popular prejudices or arbi- 20th-century America. The politics of that in very great measure, people in government trary ideologies, tend to make a hash of the era seemed dangerously corrupt and tumul- service, or closely associated with it, acting underlying network of causes and effects. tuous, with politicians either despoiling the on the basis of their specialized and tech- The practitioner of the policy approach must public for personal and constituent enrich- nical knowledge, who first perceived the gently chide these citizens and politicians ment or roiling public opinion with radically problem, conceived the program, initially for their short-sightedness. He must insist divisive new ideologies like socialism. In urged it on the president and Congress, went that they put away their childish things, and tones resembling Obama’s rhetoric today, on to help lobby it through to enactment, get down to the hard and serious work of at- the Progressives condemned such behavior as and then saw to its administration.’’ tending to the complicated causes of soci- short-sighted, parochial, and irresponsible. The professionalization of reform and tech- ety’s problems. And he must recruit to his These reckless political practices, they ar- nocratic takeover went beyond government administration a cadre of experts who can gued, ignored growing social interdepend- boundaries, however. As Hugh Heclo, Lester detect those causes—experts professionally encies that demanded empirically grounded, Salamon, and other scholars have observed, trained in the natural or social sciences, objective, far-sighted decisions focused on much of the expansion of federal programs in which alone enable us to fully grasp social the larger national interest. the Great Society and beyond involved not complexity and to design appropriate inter- Progressivism’s solution was to shift the adding more federal bureaucrats, but rather ventions. administration of public affairs out of the subsidizing third-party providers at lower Hence policy czars, mandated to follow the hands of citizens and politicians still in the levels of government and throughout the causal threads wherever they may lead, pass- thrall of fragmented (and therefore dysfunc- non-profit sector. These institutions, too, ing freely across the anachronistic and arbi- tional) views of social reality, and into the took on a professional cast, as they recruited trary boundaries of executive departments hands of a new professional class steeped in experts to design, execute, evaluate, and re- without undue concern for political turf. the social sciences. They alone could formu- port on the federal programs for which they Hence Obama’s ill-concealed frustration with late coherent maps of an inter- were responsible. They also inevitably be- what he so often calls the ‘‘tired old argu- related world, and interventions sophisti- came advocates for sustained government ments’’ that compose our day-to-day poli- cated enough to bend the causal chains in support for their services. Private charitable tics. Hence also the immense ambition of his the desired direction. In Croly’s words, Pro- foundations, which had previously been first-year agenda—and the immense obsta- gressivism believed that a ‘‘better future mainstays of support for non-profit service cles and complications he will no doubt face would derive from the beneficent activities providers, now chose instead to join them in as he moves forward. of expert social engineers who would bring to pushing for increased government funding of the service of social ideals all the technical services. Philanthropy was then left free to THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT resources which research could discover and fund experimental projects that would blaze The ideal of the policy presidency is deeply ingenuity could devise.’’ trails for yet more government programs. rooted in the enduring American Progressive Progressive doctrine—particularly as ex- Over time, ‘‘issue networks’’ (to use movement, and particularly in its under- tended and elaborated in President Franklin Heclo’s term) began to develop, linking gov- standing of the social sciences. In the late Roosevelt’s New Deal and President Lyndon ernment bureaucrats, congressional staff, 19th and early 20th centuries, new economic Johnson’s Great Society—thus demanded the non-profit administrators, foundation pro- and technological developments—factory centralization of political power in the gram officers, and policy advocates around a production, mass markets, railroads, the American presidency and its bureaucratic shared interest in specific policy areas. telegraph and telephone—shattered the old apparatus, organized according to the ration- Though they didn’t always agree on policy boundaries of what historian Robert Wiebe al and orderly doctrines of scientific man- particulars, Heclo maintains, they shared a aptly called our ‘‘island communities.’’ In- agement and public administration. Progres- ‘‘common language for discussing the issues, stead, we seemed to be increasingly inter- sive reformers throughout the 20th century a shared grammar for identifying the major twined, our existence affected by distant de- came to denigrate the wisdom and relevance points of contention, a mutually familiar velopments whose ramifications arrived un- of the American Constitution, which frus- rhetoric of argumentation.’’ These networks bidden in our lives through steel rail and trated centralization and coordination by would provide quiet but self-sustaining mo- copper wire. dispersing governing power across the states mentum for federal programs, even in the That growing interdependence, writes and over the branches of government. Once face of hostile presidents. Thomas Haskell in The Emergence of Profes- thought essential to American freedom, Frank Baumgartner and Christine sional Social Science, meant that the ‘‘effec- these institutions now came to be seen as Mahoney have argued that as new govern- tive cause of any event or condition . . . be- impediments to coherent national govern- ment initiatives were established, ‘‘the pro- came more contingent and more difficult to ance. grams and spending associated with them trace.’’ Everyday common sense now failed The apogee of social science’s influence in generated new interests themselves, as af- to explain the world, which seemed to be American public life came with Johnson’s fected constituencies, service providers, and shaped instead by ‘‘long chains of causation Great Society and its vast proliferation of others entered into long-term relations with that stretched off into a murky distance.’’ professionally designed programs to address the government officials responsible for Human behavior was no longer directed by housing, poverty, education, urban affairs, these new programs.’’ As Michael Greve ex- autonomous moral choice, but rather by ‘‘a and other public problems. ‘‘There was a pre- plains, even the Reagan administration even- host of determinants external to the con- vailing faith that social science could diag- tually gave up trying to make a dent in fed- scious mind.’’ For the early Progressives, nose the causes of human problems and de- eral support for liberal advocacy groups, con- this brought into question the ideal of the velop sound and effective public policy cluding that ‘‘defending was a fight it could free, self-governing, and personally respon- cures,’’ note Calvin Mackenzie and Robert not win without mounting an extraordinary sible human being and citizen. And it led to Weisbrot in their history of the 1960s. effort,’’ and that ‘‘government funding of ad- the elevation of those equipped with sciences This brought on what Moynihan (in the vocacy groups had become too deeply of society that promised to trace the chains first issue of The Public Interest, in 1965) engrained in the structure of American gov- of causation into the murk—those who ap- called ‘‘the professionalization of reform.’’ ernment.’’ preciated, as sociologist Lester Frank Ward The expert class had become persuaded that Thus, the policy approach to governing, put it, that ‘‘every fact and every phe- our supply of social-science knowledge had and especially to the executive branch, came

VerDate Nov 24 2008 23:34 Jan 21, 2010 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A21JA6.007 S21JAPT1 dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with SENATE S66 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 21, 2010 to take hold on the left and in Washington the Chicago Annenberg Challenge—a massive suggests that tackling only isolated pieces of policy circles. It has played a role in the local school-reform project (co-founded by the problem, or trying to solve only one work of every recent administration—wheth- the former Weather Underground radical problem at a time, will merely introduce fur- er as implicit modus operandi or as exas- William Ayers) that Obama chaired. The re- ther distortions into what should be treated perating foil—but not until President Obama port suggests that the effort fell well short as a unified and coordinated system. A com- has it had a genuine, life-long true believer of expectations precisely because it left too prehensive policy approach will enable us to in the Oval Office. much discretion to the untutored leaders of take maximum advantage of natural- and so- THE POLICY PRESIDENT local schools. It would have been better to cial-science expertise, displacing expensive Obama’s early life primed him for this way ‘‘provide guidance for local initiatives in the or ineffective local practices by spreading of thinking about politics. The cir- form of well-researched and well-thought-out system-wide those programs that have prov- cumstances of his family and his globally maps for change,’’ the report maintained, en to be more effective and less expensive, as peripatetic youth acquainted him with a va- which would ‘‘present sound theories and documented by thorough research and ex- riety of strong traditional cultures—Kenyan, principles that might enhance the effective- perimentation. Kansan, Indonesian—that had not yet been ness of local thinking and action.’’ It was too Approaching the problems of the health- entirely pulverized by modern cosmopoli- much to expect everyday citizens to under- care system individually and incrementally, tanism. Obama’s first book, Dreams from My stand the complex forces affecting their Obama insisted in a speech in July, ‘‘is pre- Father, is in part his account of trying on schools without substantial, theoretically cisely [the] kind of small thinking that has several of the tightly woven cultural gar- informed intervention by the professionals. led us into the current predicament.’’ The in- ments that his background made accessible Obama’s chief complaint as a new U.S. sen- efficiencies and shortcomings of health-care to him. As he often puts it himself, this ex- ator was that Washington’s discourse seemed financing will be done away with only if an perience endowed him with a remarkable ca- to be dominated by the bitter, tired, ideo- extensive system is built that assigns and pacity to appreciate the most diverse moral logically driven politics that had character- regulates roles for all the players, including and cultural beliefs, coolly and objectively ized the pre-Progressive era. Most Ameri- federal and state health programs, medical assessing their strengths and weaknesses. cans, he insisted in his second book, The Au- personnel, hospitals, insurance companies, Because he was in but never entirely of sev- dacity of Hope, exhibited a ‘‘pragmatic, non- and all American citizens. Once this new uni- eral cultures, he was left with a wistful sense ideological attitude’’ and were ‘‘weary of the versal network of relationships is estab- that he would always somehow be on the dead zone that politics has become, in which lished, science and technology—comparative outside looking in. narrow interests vie for advantage and ideo- effectiveness research, electronic medical But his cosmopolitan childhood ensured logical minorities seek to impose their own records—can make their contributions. And that Obama would not be burdened by a crip- versions of absolute truth.’’ once all Americans receive the treatments pling illusion so common in the traditional Obama preferred an approach to public pol- judged most effective according to rigor- community: that its way is the right way, icy that would make greater use of objective ously empirical measurement, the nation’s and that it can autonomously shape its com- evidence, scientific facts, and expert counsel. health care will be delivered everywhere as mon life accordingly, free of the sprawling For example, he suggests in the book, we it is today at the Mayo Clinic. Likewise, Obama and his allies insist that chains of social causality. From his earliest could take on the health-care problem by our national approach to energy and the en- days—helped by the guidance and example of ‘‘having a nonpartisan group like the Na- vironment must be based on the recognition his mother, who held a Ph.D. in anthro- tional Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine determine what a basic, high-qual- that we are embedded in an intricate system pology—Obama understood and easily glided of ecological linkages. In Obama’s view, we ity health-care plan should look like and through the network of interdependency have recklessly spewed carbon into the at- how much it should cost,’’ examining ‘‘which that, as the Progressives had predicted, was mosphere because of poor decisions about existing health-care programs deliver the eroding traditional communities and pulling housing, transportation, and electricity best care in the most cost-effective manner.’’ us all together in vast systems of relation- use—ignoring the web that ties them all to- ship. In other words, the beginning of reform lies gether. Here, too, the answer is a system of When a Chicago non-profit accepted his ap- in the formulations of professional expertise. energy supply that brings to bear the latest plication for a job as a community organizer, During Obama’s presidential campaign, scientific research: A proposed ‘‘cap-and- Obama put on the garment of a Chicagoan. journalists were clearly impressed by his trade’’ program will establish standards for That he was not born and reared in one of willingness to consult and rely on the policy measuring and regulating the emission of the strong and often insular ethnic neighbor- professionals. But the candidate’s adamancy carbon; and a nationally interlinked web for hoods of the city of broad shoulders was not about seeking out proven experts came as no energy transmission will carry renewable en- particularly relevant. He was not there to surprise to Obama advisor Cass Sunstein, ergy from wherever it is produced to wher- help a local neighborhood rebuild a coherent who observed that ‘‘in his empiricism, his ever it is needed, no matter the distance. sense of community that would enable it to curiosity, his insistence on nuance, and his Our education system, too, is chaotic and solve its own problems according to its own lack of dogmatism, Obama is indeed a sort of disorganized, according to Obama. Too many values. Rather, he was there to help local anti-Bush’’ from whom we will see ‘‘a rigor- states and localities are going in too many residents understand the larger networks of ously evidence-based government.’’ different directions, and Washington ‘‘has power and influence that determined their In January, the Boston Globe reported been trapped in the same stale debates that lives, and which alone could provide the re- with hometown pride that the newly elected have paralyzed progress and perpetuated our sources and knowledge to alleviate their president had turned particularly to Harvard educational decline,’’ as he put it to the His- poverty. What the South Side of Chicago University for key administration officials. panic Chamber of Commerce. Again, the needed was not an illusory sense of commu- It seemed only natural, since Obama was ‘‘a president argues, the solution is a more uni- nity efficacy, but rather the clout to force preternaturally self-confident product of the form application of expert guidance and di- the importation of professional expertise—in meritocracy’’ and had a ‘‘reputation as a rection. ‘‘It’s time to give all Americans a the form of city-paid employment specialists seeker of the expertise and intellect that complete and competitive education from at a new job center, and hazardous waste-re- Harvard prides itself on attracting.’’ the cradle up through a career,’’ he said in moval workers to clean up asbestos at the Small wonder, then, that as president, March. And that trajectory should be en- Altgeld Gardens housing complex. Obama’s explanation for today’s economic abled by one overarching system, because After his legal education, Obama found his crisis reflects a distinctively Progressive ‘‘it’s time to move beyond the idea that we way into the ‘‘issue networks’’ that had tone, with a call to renounce short-term and need several different programs to address come to dominate Chicago politics—the non- selfish private indulgence in the name of em- several different problems—we need one profits, advocacy coalitions, and foundations pirically based, objective analysis of the comprehensive policy that addresses our committed to ever more extensive and so- long-term, system-wide view. There has comprehensive challenges.’’ phisticated interventions by trained profes- ‘‘been a tendency to score political points in- In one policy area after another—from sionals into the lives of Chicago’s distressed stead of rolling up sleeves to solve real prob- transportation to science, urban policy to neighborhoods. In all major American cities lems,’’ he suggested in his ‘‘New Founda- auto policy—Obama’s formulation is vir- today, as the Manhattan Institute’s Steven tion’’ speech at Georgetown University in tually identical: selfishness or ideological ri- Malanga observes, this constellation of April. The problems we face, he continued, gidity has led us to look at the problem in forces—along with the municipal and edu- ‘‘are all working off each other to feed a vi- isolated pieces rather than as an all-encom- cational unions—has replaced the traditional cious economic downturn,’’ so ‘‘we’ve had no passing system; we must put aside paro- urban political machine; it is the new engine choice but to attack on all fronts of our eco- chialism to take the long systemic view; and driving the perpetual expansion of municipal nomic crisis at once.’’ when we finally formulate a uniform na- services and budgets. In addition to ongoing To address these challenges, Obama in- tional policy supported by empirical and ob- work with local advocacy groups, Obama sists, we must come up with comprehensive jective data rather than shallow, insular served on the boards of two major founda- policies that account for the entire sweep of opinion, we will arrive at solutions that are tions that are leading national proponents interconnected social and economic factors not only more effective but less costly as for the development and expansion of gov- contributing to the problem, and whose co- well. This is the mantra of the policy presi- ernment services. ordination will contribute to its solution. dency. The mode of thought inculcated by this Echoing Moynihan’s understanding of the And overseeing each of these policy areas sort of work is reflected in the final report of implications of the policy approach, Obama will be a ‘‘czar,’’ attuned to the big picture.

VerDate Nov 24 2008 23:34 Jan 21, 2010 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A21JA6.008 S21JAPT1 dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with SENATE January 21, 2010 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S67 This key presidential aide—almost invari- and 38 strategies for implementation. Carter they were convinced that all the pieces had ably a policy expert rather than a political promised to ‘‘work with, encourage, support to fit together in order for the policy to suc- figure—will coordinate the activities of the and stimulate every other level of govern- ceed. Yet as ’s Matt Bai various departments through which the in- ment plus the private sector and neighbor- has observed, ‘‘Ever jealous of its preroga- tricate policy web is woven, and focus the hood groups—all at the same time with equal tive, Congress took a long look, yawned and latest expert advice and counsel on his par- fervor.’’ This is precisely the sort of expan- kicked the whole plan to the gutter, where it ticular segment of the problem of the whole. sive and encompassing programming de- soon washed away for good—along with POLITICS AND POLICY manded by a genuinely comprehensive policy much of Clinton’s ambition for his presi- How will the Obama policy-approach presi- approach. dency.’’ The administration’s ‘‘complex and ambi- On the surface, Obama seems to have ab- dency fare? We can find a clue in the unrest tious program seemed to confuse the public sorbed the moral of that failure. He has stirred by his growing list of ‘‘czars.’’ Sen- and ultimately to paralyze the operation of begun the process of revamping health care ator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Obama’s government,’’ Ceaser notes, leaving it little and environmental policy by proclaiming fellow Democrat, objects to this new struc- to show for all its technocratic bustle. By general principles that any plan must fea- ture, complaining that the czars ‘‘rarely tes- contrast, Carter’s successor Ronald Reagan ture, while leaving the specifics of the pro- tify before congressional committees and deliberately limited his proposals to Con- grams to Congress. But it remains to be seen often shield the information and decision- gress to one or two top priority items at a whether a Congress reflecting a vast array of making process behind the assertion of exec- time, having learned precisely this lesson contending geographic and economic inter- utive privilege.’’ Indeed, he argues, ‘‘the from Carter’s failures. ests can produce the sort of internally con- rapid and easy accumulation of power by the Obama has taken his stand with the com- sistent and comprehensive proposal that the White House staff can threaten the constitu- prehensive approach, noting repeatedly that policy approach considers essential for suc- tional system of checks and balances.’’ Lib- while there are ‘‘some who believe we can cess. Obama has articulated criteria for eral law professor Bruce Ackerman suggests only handle one challenge at a time,’’ in fact measuring the value of a plan that are out of that ‘‘we need to seriously consider requiring ‘‘we don’t have the luxury of choosing be- line with his decision to leave the plan’s con- Senate approval of senior White House staff tween getting our economy moving now and struction to Congress. positions.’’ rebuilding it over the long term.’’ Outdoing In reality, the Clinton and Obama models These cavils are unlikely to prompt serious Carter, Obama doesn’t just view each sepa- are not all that different. Sooner or later, action, but they do remind us of the persist- rate area of public concern as a realm for the one way or another, the exquisite workings ence of our constitutional system of checks development of a comprehensive policy. He of policy experts must be subjected to the and balances and of a Senate jealous of its insists that, following the intractable inter- brute judgment of elected officials, who have prerogatives. And that points to a central connectedness of the pieces of his recovery not lost their quaint (if inefficient) attach- vulnerability of the policy-approach presi- plan, all the areas of concern must be cov- ments to the varied desires, needs, and inter- dency. To be successful by its own definition, ered immediately, simultaneously, and in a ests of their constituents. The sheer intellec- each of its policies must necessarily be ra- coordinated fashion. The comprehensive tual coherence of a plan does not protect it tional, coherent, and all-encompassing, policies themselves must all fit into a larger from the need to justify itself to the Amer- whether the issue is health care, energy, or comprehensive policy. Only thereby will ican constitutional system. The policy ap- education. And yet, as the early Progressives they cohere into a uniform and truly com- proach has not overcome democratic poli- knew all too well, critical elements of the prehensive ‘‘new foundation’’ for the revival tics, and so remains a profoundly problem- constitutional system—the executive cabi- of the economy. atic way to try to govern our democracy. net, federal decentralization, the separation But as Obama’s proposals begin their jour- of powers, and the extended commercial re- neys through the requisite institutional THE PERSISTENCE OF THE POLITICAL public—serve to shred and fragment policy hoops, they will inevitably begin to lose Progressivism was initially attracted to proposals as they make their way from the their coherence and uniformity. A policy social science precisely because it would per- minds of their expert designers through de- czar may entertain a single, overarching vi- mit us to avoid or transcend political con- partmental bureaucracy and legislative com- sion, but the various and often conflicting flict grounded in irresolvable economic and mittees (not to mention their hearings in the cabinet secretaries under his supervision, moral differences. Meticulous empirical re- court of public opinion). Once enacted, the along with their vast attendant bureauc- search that assembled all available data execution of policy is similarly trammeled racies, may have very different interpreta- about a given problem would, Progressives by our political system’s fragmented dis- tions of that vision and of how it is to be im- believed, provide a solid, indisputable, persal of administrative authority. The re- plemented. And congressional bargaining is shared ground for subsequent deliberation. sult is often policy that is irrational, inco- never kind to fragile policy gems containing Indeed, social-science data would be so com- herent, and partial. Policies not designed to numerous carefully interconnected parts pelling that the solution to the problem take account of that reality usually turn to that must all be preserved intact in order to would likely emerge from its own scientif- mush in practice. work. ically rigorous description. It’s not just that This failure to heed the realities of our pol- The Obama agenda is particularly vulner- facts would be more important than values: itics often first presents itself in the form of able to congressional distortions of execu- Facts would suggest the most plausible val- an overly ambitious agenda that ignores the tive intentions, owing to what might be an ues. Or, as the American pragmatists be- nature of the legislative process. Pressed to over-corrective reaction to the lessons of lieved, what works best to help us grasp and take on too much at once in pursuit of holis- President Bill Clinton’s health-care reform shape reality becomes the moral good. tic reform, the system overheats quickly and proposal—which died without a congres- We find traces of this thinking in The Au- easily. President Jimmy Carter discovered sional vote in 1994. The Clinton administra- dacity of Hope. ‘‘I understand that facts the risks of this approach when, as political tion, too, embraced a version of the policy alone can’t always settle our political dis- scientist James Ceaser reminds us, he pur- approach, believing that health-care reform putes,’’ Obama concedes, but ‘‘the absence of sued his own version of a policy presidency. could be accomplished only by addressing all even rough agreement on the facts puts ‘‘Imbued with a technocratic perspective to- the pieces within a coherent and unified sys- every opinion on equal footing and therefore ward problem solving,’’ Ceaser writes, tem. Clinton, too, argued that the nation’s eliminates the basis for thoughtful com- ‘‘Carter seemed to view the task of gov- economic recovery from the recession of the promise.’’ He insists, however, that ‘‘some- erning in terms of the management of com- early 1990s depended on it. His Task Force on times there are more accurate and less accu- plex and interrelated policies.’’ Or, as Carter Health Care Reform brought together more rate answers; sometimes there are facts that speechwriter James Fallows noted toward than 500 experts from all relevant federal de- cannot be spun, just as an argument about the end of Carter’s administration, he partments, legislative staffs, governors’ of- whether it’s raining can usually be settled ‘‘thinks he ‘leads’ by choosing the correct fices, and universities to produce a massive, by stepping outside.’’ Clearly, Obama’s policy,’’ and so he came to hold ‘‘explicit, 1,000-page proposal. It covered every conceiv- heavy reliance on policy expertise is de- thorough positions on every issue under the able aspect of health care—down to estab- signed not just to produce more accurate an- sun.’’ lishing limits on the number of specialists swers, though that is surely a critical goal. The Carter administration therefore gen- that medical schools could produce. It also aims to quell the shrill exchange of erated a flood of elaborate and complex pro- In Boomerang, her account of the Clinton equal (because equally baseless) opinions posals covering energy, housing, welfare re- reform plan, Harvard sociologist Theda that, in his view, has come to characterize form, income policy, families, neighbor- Skocpol suggests that since the task force American politics. Where available—and hoods, and urban affairs, among other issues. ‘‘made such a gargantuan effort to come up Obama intends to multiply the situations To take urban affairs as an example, Carter’s with a truly comprehensive plan for reform— where they are available—pure non-political call for ‘‘A New Partnership’’ insisted that a plan thought at the time to be both tech- facts will provide the grounds for the resolu- we ‘‘must carefully plan the total range of nically and politically workable—there was tion of policy questions, fulfilling Progres- Federal, State, and local actions’’ in urban a natural tendency for administration plan- sivism’s faith in the natural and social areas. To accomplish this, the partnership ners to see their proposal as a logical sciences. laid out, as urban planner Charles Orlebeke achievement to be ‘explained.’ ’’ That is, the But what then to say about the increasing put it, an ‘‘elaborate edifice’’ of seven gov- planners could not bring themselves to dick- use of social-science data by conservative erning principles, four goals, ten policies, er with Congress over the specifics, because scholars, who seem to use it to provoke and

VerDate Nov 24 2008 01:43 Jan 22, 2010 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A21JA6.010 S21JAPT1 dcolon on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with SENATE S68 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 21, 2010 sustain, rather than to ameliorate, partisan those outmoded, yet stubborn, values—not fundamentally an error, or a function of a conflict with Progressive reformers? Some social science. temporary lack of information. It begins, in liberals simply insist that what conservative President Obama knows, however, that other words, from the contention that de- scholars produce is inferior or false social whatever the state of the policy approach’s mocracy is an illegitimate, or at least a science, because it is produced in service of epistemological foundations, it is vital to highly inadequate, way to govern a society. ideology rather than objective truth. Eric making the case for his political project. For This is a deeply anti-political way of think- Wanner, former president of the liberal Rus- example, he can insist that he is undertaking ing, grounded in a gross exaggeration of the sell Sage Foundation, insists that ‘‘the AEIs only reluctantly, and certainly without self- capacity of human knowledge and reason. and the Heritages of the world represent the ish ambition or ulterior motive, a massive American politics as we have known it ap- inversion of the Progressive faith that social and ambitious expansion of government into preciates the fact that fallible men and science should shape social policy.’’ In his major segments of the American economy women cannot command the whole—and so Paradox of American Democracy, John Judis because it has been shown necessary. ‘‘I must somehow manage the interactions and complains that conservative think-tank don’t want to run GM,’’ Obama told report- the tensions among parts. Social science— scholars ‘‘did not seek to be above class, ers as he initiated a government takeover of however sophisticated it might now be—has party, and ideology’’ like earlier, disin- the company. The decision was not driven by come nowhere near disproving that premise. terested social scientists, but rather ‘‘were personal choice, he seemed to suggest. It was Unless it does, social science will always best openly pro-business and conservative.’’ They simply what a thoroughgoing and effective serve politics by helping to address the par- thereby ‘‘rejected the very idea of a dis- policy approach demands. As Ceaser points ticular problems that bedevil society as they passionate and disinterested elite that could out, ‘‘to speak of a policy for any given area arise, rather than treating society itself as focus on the national interest.’’ of activity already implies that that area is one large problem to be solved. But the notion that there is true and false a matter for legitimate superintendence by This is not because society is not in fact an social science relies on our ability to locate government.’’ Only an unsophisticated rube intricate web as the early Progressives as- a fixed and universally accepted standard ac- would mistake the pristinely objective dic- serted, but precisely because it is—a web far cording to which we can say that some con- tates of the policy approach for ‘‘socialism.’’ too intricate to be reliably manipulated. We clusions are beyond dispute because they are But the mention of unsophisticated rubes are not capable of weaving our society anew empirically true. Certainly that was the ini- points to a final possible problem for Presi- from fresh whole modern cloth—and so we tial Progressive vision for social science. Yet dent Obama’s policy approach, this one re- should instead make the most of the great the policy and social sciences have come no- lated to America’s commitment to demo- social garment we have inherited, in its rich where close to such a standard in assessing cratic self-government. Obama’s techno- if always unkempt splendor, mending what is society. In 1979, Edward Banfield wrote that cratic rhetoric is meant to be soothing and torn and improving what we can. the ‘‘persistent efforts of reformers to do reassuring to an American public fed up with Our constitutional system is constructed away with politics and to put social science intractable ideological division: Many of our on this understanding of the limits of reason and other expertise in its place are not to be problems will resolve themselves once we and of the goals of politics. Every effort to accounted for by the existence of a body of have collected the facts about them, because impose the policy approach upon it has so far knowledge about how to solve social prob- facts can ground and shape our political dis- ended in failure and disappointment, and lems,’’ because no such body exists. Indeed, cussions, deflating ideological claims and done much lasting harm. President Obama is he continued, ‘‘there are few social science leaving behind rational and objective an- now attempting the most ambitious such ef- theories or findings that could be of much swers in place of tired old debates. But in fort in at least 40 years. He brings consider- spite of several decades of data production help to a policy maker.’’ able talent and charm to the attempt—but Ten years later, Ronald Brunner noted in by social science, American politics has the obstacles to its success remain as firm Policy Sciences that it was difficult to assess proven itself to be remarkably resistant to and deeply rooted as ever. the usefulness of the policy movement, be- the pacifying effects of facts. It has contin- Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, cause its ‘‘various parts tend to differ in ued to be driven, as James Madison pre- dicted, by the proliferation and clash of di- I yield the floor. their judgments of the relevant standards, The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- data, and inferences to be drawn from them, verse ‘‘opinions, passions and interests.’’ Indeed, as Madison put it, ‘‘as long as the pore. The Senator from Nebraska. whenever their judgments are made ex- reason of man continues to be fallible, and plicit’’; nonetheless, the policy approach’s f he is at liberty to exercise it, different opin- ‘‘results typically have fallen short of the as- ions will be formed.’’ It may be that, in the THE NATIONAL DEBT pirations for rational, objective analysis.’’ end, the proponents of the policy approach Mr. JOHANNS. Madam President, I Positivist social science had ‘‘assumed that disagree with Madison’s premise that reason if the behavioral equivalents of Newton’s rise today to speak in support of a is fallible. But if that is their view, they can pending amendment. This amendment laws could be discovered, they would provide hardly claim much empirical evidence for it. a basis for rational and objective policy. Ra- Though Madison believed the most com- is called the Erasing Our National Debt tionality would be served because the con- mon source of different opinions to be prop- Through Accountability and Responsi- sequences of policy alternatives could be pre- erty, he also understood that Americans bility Plan. I wish to start out today dicted with precision and accuracy,’’ while were likely as well to divide along religious by saying I am very proud to be a co- the ‘‘valid system of generalizations would and moral lines, reflecting convictions about sponsor of what I consider to be a very reduce controversy in the policy arena.’’ But ultimate questions of good and evil that can- still, according to Brunner, ‘‘after roughly commonsense amendment. not be resolved through scientific reason. The Troubled Asset Relief Program, four decades of behavioral research, positiv- This does not mean they take in only part of ists have not yet discovered universal cov- the picture, but that they disagree about known as TARP, was enacted in the ering laws that predict human behavior with what is best for the whole, for reasons that fall of 2008 for the U.S. Treasury to buy accuracy and precision.’’ run deep. These disagreements, although toxic assets, primarily mortgage- In short, policy science cannot be depended they do not always lend themselves to sci- backed securities. It was sold to Con- upon to dampen or eliminate conflicting entific analysis and technical solution, gress as having a sole purpose of get- points of view because it is itself riven by speak to genuine human yearnings and con- ting bad assets out of the market. It deep divisions over how best to develop, ana- cerns. They are often rooted in many cen- was sold as an idea of stabilizing the lyze, implement, and evaluate public policy. turies of experience and wisdom, and can And these divisions cannot be explained hardly be dismissed as irrelevant to the life economy. At the time this was sold, away by a conservative conspiracy to dilute of a liberal society—let alone as illegitimate this was it. This is what we told people genuine, objective social science with a spu- subjects for political debate. this was going to do. Supposedly, it rious, ideologically driven imitation. Social This leads to the most troublesome impli- was going to be a one-time, very nar- science begins from one place or another in cation of Obama’s policy approach, which re- rowly focused program during a time of society, and can do great good that way. But vealed itself in what might have been the the worst economic crisis we had seen it cannot step outside the circle of our social chief blunder of his presidential campaign: in decades. Lawmakers at that time life; no human activity can. his offhand remark that some Americans The Obama administration will of course continue to ‘‘cling’’ to guns and religion in were warned that if we do not act now, insist that its policy plans are rooted in the face of adversity. The comment betrayed if we do not take this action, the fail- unassailably objective research. But there Obama’s debt to the Progressive view that ure to act is going to be devastating. may well be equally compelling research such parochial values are poor substitutes Yet Washington, after it got approval supporting contrary conclusions, and the de- for a sophisticated understanding of the larg- of this plan, almost immediately threw bate between them cannot be resolved by in- er networks of causality that determine the out the original game plan. Money was sisting that true science supports only one lives of everyday Americans. In light of such not used to buy those troubled assets. kind of conclusion. Often the origins of the an understanding, the old debates that grip Instead, it was given to large banks dispute have to do with people’s sense of the American politics may well look rather ri- most important questions to ask, the most diculous. with very few strings attached. The critical goals to set, or the highest ends of The policy approach begins from the as- government hoped banks would gen- society. These are generally determined by sumption that those old disagreements are erate small business loans, and would

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