“Washington appears to keep its calendar clear for crises — and to spend the rest of its time just waiting for them to occur.”— Philip Wallach
In a blunt critique of the federal government’s behavior in the last two decades, Philip Wallach writes in the current issue of National Affairs that “governing in the 21st century amounts to little more than piling up raw materials that we then scramble to process and put to use in moments of crisis.” For many advocates of smarter social policies for children and families, this description of the federal government’s activities likely feels accurate and all too familiar. Congress hasn’t had a regular budget process in over a decade and major legislation to address long-standing, complicated, and structural challenges is exceedingly rare. The federal government is left lurching from crisis to crisis and Congress lacks the capacities to pass legislation that serves the common good.
These are the broad conditions under which early care and education, gun reform, housing, criminal justice reform, and health care advocates are pursuing their agendas. And, the limited successes we have seen in those areas in recent decades can’t be ascribed merely to an absence of popular political power, a failure of imagination, misguided strategies, or a lack of public interest in those issues. In short, one more poll showing that the vast majority of Americans support child care simply reinforces to Members of Congress that they are paralyzed and unable to respond to the needs and the will of the public. As Wallach writes
… Congress has shown little ability to successfully keep up existing domestic programs in light of new developments and an aging population — let alone confidently chart new paths. The “normal” way the federal government has dealt with most non-urgent problems in the 21st century is to have executive-branch agencies cobble together disparate existing authorities designed for other purposes, leaving Congress to complain after the fact about the awkwardness of these improvisations and the judiciary to determine whether the agency’s behavior was excessively outlandish or arbitrary.
Recovering a non-crisis government, and crucially, a functioning Congress, is an urgent imperative for those who care deeply about the implementation of smart social policies that will serve the common good, meet the needs of the poor and vulnerable, and foster the conditions of stability and order necessary for flourishing. Advocates working on pressing social issues must tell the story and give voice to the ways in which our broken government hinders progress on those issues. Moreover, they must build collaborative relationships with government reformers and join campaigns working to restore the health of our government. A functioning government that doesn’t simply lurch from one crisis to the next is a necessary condition for building a country in which all young children and families flourish.