Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back

by Marc J. Dunkelman

Not every stakeholder should have the wherewithal to stand in the way. No single figure should be able to impose their will with impunity. Not every decision should be made by a court bound by the limits of judicial precedent. Government “by the people, and for the people,” as Abraham Lincoln once described American democracy, needs today to develop more expeditious ways to weigh competing interests against one another. It needs to be able to metabolize opposition without an excess of delay. We can’t forever endure the false choice of tyranny or nothing—of either letting Robert Moses tear up the South Bronx or allowing a fetid Penn Station to fester for decades. We need a process that considers broad public interests and that provides everyone a voice but not a veto.