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Alan's avatar

Zvi, one thing to add is how to work the bureaucracy once something is passed. As we saw with ACA and many post passage regulatory actions, this process may even be more important. Very few people understand the guts of the system: incentives in the bureaucracy, procurement, and the regulatory process. Those need attention to get good policy.

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Doctor Hammer's avatar

It's funny, but I have heard multiple times Democrats complaining that their side never has workable policies/legislation designed and ready to go, unlike the Republicans who have draft legislation written and chambered for when they win an election and can pass it.

It might just be the usual "my team is stupid and ineffective compared to the opposite team who is evil and effective" gripe, but a pretty consistent one. Maybe the D's lump libertarians in with Republicans overall?

A second point: How are you going to handle policy positions like "FDA delenda est"? I note in your essay a flavor of "propose ways to do more" instead of things that maybe the government should stop doing all together. Maybe just a writing style thing, but I would like clarification on whether you think stopping particular programs or departments is just too big or politically impossible to bother with.

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