Move fast, break things: A review of Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson

Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet. - Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Shelby County v. Holder Abundance, the buzzy new political call to arms by New York Times writer/podcaster Ezra Klein and The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson, is less a book than a manifesto. The primary thrust of Abundance is to ask what we need more of in American society — housing! clean energy! high-speed rail! — and to maniacally reorient our democratic government around providing it as quickly and efficiently as possible. It’s an intoxicating vision, and one whose central complaint rings agonizingly true. In the U.S., governments at all levels — but particularly the national one — are all too often plodding, rigid, and anachronistic. They focus on procedures and rules rather than outcomes. (Or to put it in product management terms, they’re not focused on the end user.) ... Read full article.