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COVID-19 brought the problems with government technology into sharp focus. The systems responsible for delivering unemployment benefits and healthcare were not prepared to mange the influx of requests they received, and the government employees who run those systems were often hobbled by a culture that focuses on regulation and oversight, not innovation and acting quickly.
Beyond the day-to-day impacts of these systems not working, the long-term consequences include the erosion of trust in the institutions that comprise our democracy. So, what can we do? Jennifer Pahlka has a few ideas and she joins us this week to talk about them.
Pahlka is the author of Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better. She is the former deputy chief technology officer of the United States and the founder of Code for America, a nonprofit that believes government can work for people in the digital age.
Recoding America website
More information on Schedule F/Project 2025
Public health depends on the Census
Free and fair elections during a pandemic
COVID-19 exposes democracy’s tensions
Populism is not a monolith
Swamp Stories: Cashing In
The promise and peril of early voting
Breaking down Black politics
Does Congress promote partisan gridlock?
How states are working to keep your vote safe
Primaries, parties, and the public
The connective tissue of democracy
How the Tea Party and the Resistance are upending politics
A 2020 preview
Grassroots organizing to “reboot” democracy [rebroadcast]
E.J. Dionne on making America empathetic again [rebroadcast]
Is it possible to overdo democracy?
Chris Beem on democratic humility and virtues
Next-generation democracy
The democracy rebellion happening in states across the U.S.
A roundtable on impeachment, institutions, and legitimacy
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