Progressivism struggles with a never ending pendulum swing between Jeffersonian and Hamiltonian impulses, bringing us to our current problem of inaction. Author Mark Dunkelman in his book, "Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back", explains the origins of American progressivism as a response to the upheaval created by railroads and national-scale economic power, outlining these two competing impulses within the movement: the Jeffersonian push to break up big institutions and return power to smaller, local actors, and a Hamiltonian push to build strong public institutions capable of regulating large private entities. 

The discussion traces how the U.S. shifted toward large-scale governance in the New Deal and mid-20th century, then swung back in the 1960s–1970s as public trust eroded due to environmental damage, highways cutting through communities, urban renewal, Vietnam, and Watergate, leading to layered legal and procedural checks that can fragment decision-making and make it difficult for governments to act quickly. Dunkelman describes how the judiciary’s role changed over time and argues that today’s system resembles a “tragedy of the commons in reverse,” where widespread veto points prevent collective action. 

Show Notes:

• Further Reading: 
  • Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939 by Lizabeth Cohen
  • Saving America's Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America by Lizabeth Cohen
  • Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner
  • Find each on our Policy book list at https://bookshop.org/lists/theory-policy-history
• To help support the show, pick up a copy of the book through our Bookshop page at https://bookshop.org/shop/bookedonplanning or get a copy through your local bookstore!
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