As a friend of mine said recently, “it’s a tough time to have conversations like this in public.” He was referring to my recent opinion piece in the New York Times, which exhorted Democrats to go on the offense on government reform, yes, even as DOGE is radically redefining government efficiency with largely indiscriminate layoffs. I thought about his rebuke, which was said with kindness, and how to respond. I return, ultimately, to what I said just after the election. “Our country is in peril, and we bear some of the responsibility. We [Democrats] need to be curious about why we failed. That will bring conflict. Bring it.”
Into this heightened emotional environment comes Marc Dunkelman’s important new book Why Nothing Works. It’s a lecture at the left, from the left, at a time when much of the left isn’t in the mood to be lectured. Dunkelman doesn’t mean (nor do I) that all the problems of our country have come from the left, by any means, but understanding how we’ve shot ourselves in the foot is critical to building that new positive vision we need. And building is the key word here. We must be able to build, not just visions, but actual things we need.
I’ve heard over and over again a belief in the power of giving everyone a voice — if we are just careful enough about talking to all the right groups and hearing their concerns, we will resolve conflicts more fairly and equitably and build better projects. When I’ve asked about speed — since climate change doesn’t care about our permitting processes and continues at its own pace — I’ve been told, Yes, we want faster, but we also want better. Better, they tell me, comes from a lot of upfront work to include all stakeholders – and that takes time. But, I’m told, it pays off in the end.
Does it, though?
The most concerning story in the book isn’t about building clean energy, housing, or transportation. It’s about New York City’s long struggle to fix Wollman Rink, the beloved ice skating venue in Central Park. After years of bureaucratic delays, expensive failures, and a lot of finger pointing, a developer came along who promised he could fix it — and did. That developer was Donald Trump.
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