Before we get to the show notes, we invite you to take our listener survey for a chance to win a Democracy Works coffee mug!
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
How “if it bleeds, it leads” impacts democracy
A story about democracy, told through 20 million traffic stops
Breaking the silence in Syria
Citizenship, patriotism, and democracy in the classroom
Behind the scenes of the “Year of the Woman”
The democrats in public sector unions [Labor Day rebroadcast]
Middle America, Part 2: Grassroots organizing and rebooting democracy
Middle America, Part 1: Populism and the Trump Voter
Facebook is not a democracy
How will we remember Charlottesville?
A democracy reading list
Bonus: A dose of optimism about the future of democracy
The constitutional crisis episode
Unpacking political polarization
What should voting look like in the 21st century?
When the “business of business” bleeds into politics
Michael Mann’s journey through the climate wars
Can young people revive civic engagement?
Bonus: Democracy In Action #1
A conversation about conversation
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
City Manager Unfiltered
Potencial Americano
The ASIC Podcast
The Chris Plante Show
Strict Scrutiny