My guest this week is the lawyer and writer Philip Howard, author of Not Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Employee Unions, among many other books. Philip is a longtime critic of regulatory overreach and administrative bloat, which he says hinder the ability of businesses to operate efficiently and infringe on Americans’ freedom. But Philip is no hardhearted arch-conservative stock character. As you’ll see in this conversation, he’s got a deep belief in the capacity of communities to come together in mutual support, as long as the broader social conditions are conducive.
“The thing that is missing the most is moral authority” A quote from the conclusion of Mr Howard. I found myself nodding in agreement. Unfortunately I immediately caught myself. When we can’t agree on what a woman is, good luck with finding a consensus on what is moral. Is that not the rot on which the society is decaying?
Loved the podcast and Mr. Howard’s remarks. I am afraid our society no longer has any foundation on which to rebuild.
The concept of subsidiarity absolutely should apply to health and public health! Empowered patients and empowered doctors treating illness as it presents in individuals is the only rational way to avoid the inevitable problems which come from centralized authority insulated from the results of its policy descisions. Remdesiver was a top-down decision foisted upon doctors even after it was known how toxic it is from failed trials for ebola treatment, for goodness sake! It's odd that this discussion would carve out such a broad exception as public health while suggesting that empowering teachers in the classroom is necessary.
Maybe the reason that OHSA has 4000 rules because they scale their fines to the number of violations and it is really about funding themselves on this regulation structure and less about actually promoting workplace safety.
This podcast is probably the most important one Glenn has ever had from the point of of what constitutes good government. And since government has arrogated to itself so much power and control to have the government on its knees vis a vis their employees is a denial of the entire theory of democracy. A perfect example of this to be seen in the odious Randi Weingarten calling the shots to the White House in terms of when schools in the US can reopen during the post covid period. We can never get control over our government until government unions are ruled unconstitutional and that control of government workers is returned back to the voters and tax payers where it belongs.
As a Local 21 union member, I was among the unionized civil service public employees until my 2021 retirement. Interesting discussion. Please abolish the teachers’ unions.
Good discussion. My only disagreement was his opinion that the public should follow Public Health mandates to take vaccines. My opinion has shifted on that, especially in light of the knowledge that FDA and PH employees are not the watchdogs that they are tasked with being and are beholden to the hand that feeds them rather than the public they should be serving.
Well, this guest was interesting enough when he was specific, but I spent most of the interview wondering what he’s talking about. For one thing, he wants accountability but not specific standards, like complaining OSHA has too many rules when companies should just instill a “safety culture”. Okay, companies do that, and accidents still happen. Having standardized systems and practices (like yes, lighting stairwells) is pretty essential to that safety culture. The accountability comes when managers have a spine and enforce accountability both in private and public sectors.
I really don’t know what he’s talking about in schools either. Where I live, principals go into classes unannounced and regularly. And getting rid of bad teachers isn’t near the problem of finding and retaining good teachers. Education pays terribly and teachers are not sufficiently respected for their work; it really shows what we as a society value. That seems to be a much more pressing issue than teachers unions or whatever point he was trying to make.
Will have a listen later, but I'll preemptively say that I never hear a convincing argument from these anti public sector union types that addresses the main reason public sector unions were made central in the U.S.: dismantling the spoils system.
We had to go through a US presidential assassination (Garfield) to learn this lesson. Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall held NYC in its corrupt hands because of this.
When public service jobs are not defended by autonomous unions, they effectively become an army of vassals beholden to the incumbent political office holder for their job. Want that promotion? You'd better donate. Don't want to lose your contract renewal for next year? You'd better phone bank the minimum hours and sign the ledger for it.
Yes, there are a ton of imperfections even in carrying out this function independently. Merit does not always get rewarded. But at least the rank and file are able to make a career out of civil service and improve in their craft without getting swept out simply because 5000 favors were promised by someone else who got into power.
I'm not saying there isn't room for improvement either, but most critics want to wholesale do away with protections, without considering the major reasons we got to this situation, nor offer convincing stop gaps that will prevent us from regressing back to a spoils system.
The answer isn't a whole replacement with vendor contracting. It may work for single deliverables like a bridge gettting built, and be great for external compliance and audit, but it certainly isn't working for prisons, homeless shelters, environment/water management, and in education the results have been at best mixed. The major health care companies let us know loudly and clearly in 2009 as Obamacare was being debated that they did not want to be in a public vendor position either. It certainly isn't saving the taxpayer money, even with competitive bidding.
Maybe the best guest you have had on in terms of the importance of the issues he raises - the administrative state and public employee unions. I would like to see more on these issues.
There is an argument being advanced within the profession that exploitation of physician labor by nonmedical administrators is driving doctors out of what is referred to as the Corporate Practice of Medicine. But of course, there is always an argument that the interests of patients and the personal best interests of physicians are somewhat at odds.
I look forward to listening to this discussion. I have long thought as Mr. Howard does as regards public employee unions. Having worked under two private sector unions (both while in the employ of the same company), The United Food and Commercial Workers Union and the Teamsters, and have seen first-hand the corruption in unions in general, I am not a fan, and I tend to believe that there are enough government protections for employees in any job that unions have outlived their usefulness. The majore difference that I see between private and public employee unions is the collective bargaining aspect. When my employer 'bargained' with the unions, he sent his legal representative to bargain on his behalf. This rep could only offer what he knew my employer would agree to, and could not be bought off by the unions, because ultimately, the contract would have to be signed by my employeri - no dummy. When public sector unions negotiate a contract, they are dealing with politicians who will likely not be in office when the fallout from their over-promising comes to bite - not them, but the taxpayers who are left holding the bag. Why do they overpromise? Because public employee unions can throw around large wads of cash in the form of campaign 'donations' to ensure that their employees get all that they are asking for. Not a fair fight. And while public employees enjoy their fat pensions 'guaranteed by the full faith and credit' of the government funded solely by tax revenues, retirees from the private sector will have their retirement dollars reduced by the taxes necessary to fund these fat pensions. As I tell many people, it's you and me, baby, who is the 'full faith and credit' of the government.
“The thing that is missing the most is moral authority” A quote from the conclusion of Mr Howard. I found myself nodding in agreement. Unfortunately I immediately caught myself. When we can’t agree on what a woman is, good luck with finding a consensus on what is moral. Is that not the rot on which the society is decaying?
Loved the podcast and Mr. Howard’s remarks. I am afraid our society no longer has any foundation on which to rebuild.
The concept of subsidiarity absolutely should apply to health and public health! Empowered patients and empowered doctors treating illness as it presents in individuals is the only rational way to avoid the inevitable problems which come from centralized authority insulated from the results of its policy descisions. Remdesiver was a top-down decision foisted upon doctors even after it was known how toxic it is from failed trials for ebola treatment, for goodness sake! It's odd that this discussion would carve out such a broad exception as public health while suggesting that empowering teachers in the classroom is necessary.
Maybe the reason that OHSA has 4000 rules because they scale their fines to the number of violations and it is really about funding themselves on this regulation structure and less about actually promoting workplace safety.
There is a fundamental problem with the government being its own constituency; able to elect itself.
This podcast is probably the most important one Glenn has ever had from the point of of what constitutes good government. And since government has arrogated to itself so much power and control to have the government on its knees vis a vis their employees is a denial of the entire theory of democracy. A perfect example of this to be seen in the odious Randi Weingarten calling the shots to the White House in terms of when schools in the US can reopen during the post covid period. We can never get control over our government until government unions are ruled unconstitutional and that control of government workers is returned back to the voters and tax payers where it belongs.
As a Local 21 union member, I was among the unionized civil service public employees until my 2021 retirement. Interesting discussion. Please abolish the teachers’ unions.
Good discussion. My only disagreement was his opinion that the public should follow Public Health mandates to take vaccines. My opinion has shifted on that, especially in light of the knowledge that FDA and PH employees are not the watchdogs that they are tasked with being and are beholden to the hand that feeds them rather than the public they should be serving.
Well, this guest was interesting enough when he was specific, but I spent most of the interview wondering what he’s talking about. For one thing, he wants accountability but not specific standards, like complaining OSHA has too many rules when companies should just instill a “safety culture”. Okay, companies do that, and accidents still happen. Having standardized systems and practices (like yes, lighting stairwells) is pretty essential to that safety culture. The accountability comes when managers have a spine and enforce accountability both in private and public sectors.
I really don’t know what he’s talking about in schools either. Where I live, principals go into classes unannounced and regularly. And getting rid of bad teachers isn’t near the problem of finding and retaining good teachers. Education pays terribly and teachers are not sufficiently respected for their work; it really shows what we as a society value. That seems to be a much more pressing issue than teachers unions or whatever point he was trying to make.
Will have a listen later, but I'll preemptively say that I never hear a convincing argument from these anti public sector union types that addresses the main reason public sector unions were made central in the U.S.: dismantling the spoils system.
We had to go through a US presidential assassination (Garfield) to learn this lesson. Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall held NYC in its corrupt hands because of this.
When public service jobs are not defended by autonomous unions, they effectively become an army of vassals beholden to the incumbent political office holder for their job. Want that promotion? You'd better donate. Don't want to lose your contract renewal for next year? You'd better phone bank the minimum hours and sign the ledger for it.
Yes, there are a ton of imperfections even in carrying out this function independently. Merit does not always get rewarded. But at least the rank and file are able to make a career out of civil service and improve in their craft without getting swept out simply because 5000 favors were promised by someone else who got into power.
I'm not saying there isn't room for improvement either, but most critics want to wholesale do away with protections, without considering the major reasons we got to this situation, nor offer convincing stop gaps that will prevent us from regressing back to a spoils system.
The answer isn't a whole replacement with vendor contracting. It may work for single deliverables like a bridge gettting built, and be great for external compliance and audit, but it certainly isn't working for prisons, homeless shelters, environment/water management, and in education the results have been at best mixed. The major health care companies let us know loudly and clearly in 2009 as Obamacare was being debated that they did not want to be in a public vendor position either. It certainly isn't saving the taxpayer money, even with competitive bidding.
Maybe the best guest you have had on in terms of the importance of the issues he raises - the administrative state and public employee unions. I would like to see more on these issues.
Would be interesting to hear his take on unionization in healthcare. Healthcare is generally non-governmental in the U.S., but certainly occupies a special role of public service and an unusual marketplace. Some healthcare workers have long been unionized, but this is just recently become a trend with medical residents (e.g. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/03/23/1165539846/80-hour-weeks-and-roaches-near-your-cot-more-medical-residents-unionize).
There is an argument being advanced within the profession that exploitation of physician labor by nonmedical administrators is driving doctors out of what is referred to as the Corporate Practice of Medicine. But of course, there is always an argument that the interests of patients and the personal best interests of physicians are somewhat at odds.
I look forward to listening to this discussion. I have long thought as Mr. Howard does as regards public employee unions. Having worked under two private sector unions (both while in the employ of the same company), The United Food and Commercial Workers Union and the Teamsters, and have seen first-hand the corruption in unions in general, I am not a fan, and I tend to believe that there are enough government protections for employees in any job that unions have outlived their usefulness. The majore difference that I see between private and public employee unions is the collective bargaining aspect. When my employer 'bargained' with the unions, he sent his legal representative to bargain on his behalf. This rep could only offer what he knew my employer would agree to, and could not be bought off by the unions, because ultimately, the contract would have to be signed by my employeri - no dummy. When public sector unions negotiate a contract, they are dealing with politicians who will likely not be in office when the fallout from their over-promising comes to bite - not them, but the taxpayers who are left holding the bag. Why do they overpromise? Because public employee unions can throw around large wads of cash in the form of campaign 'donations' to ensure that their employees get all that they are asking for. Not a fair fight. And while public employees enjoy their fat pensions 'guaranteed by the full faith and credit' of the government funded solely by tax revenues, retirees from the private sector will have their retirement dollars reduced by the taxes necessary to fund these fat pensions. As I tell many people, it's you and me, baby, who is the 'full faith and credit' of the government.