The hottest Public Administration Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top U.S. Politics Topics

Life Under a Clicktatorship

Can We Still Govern? • 802 implied HN points • 07 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. Powerful people hooked on social media ('poster brain') start chasing likes and outrage, and that can impair judgment and decision-making.
  2. Government choices are increasingly made for viral optics instead of sound policy, degrading professional norms, accountability, and sometimes causing real harm.
  3. Hiring and rewarding meme-ready, attention-seeking actors shifts government culture toward aggression and misinformation, which undermines effective, representative governance.

Why Your Boss Can Block Your Unemployment Benefits

Can We Still Govern? • 133 implied HN points • 10 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. The experience-rating system ties employer taxes to benefit claims, so employers have a strong financial incentive to contest and sometimes block workers' unemployment claims. This incentive has even spawned a claims-management industry that helps firms fight benefits.
  2. Employer pushback is common — about 26% of applicants reported contestation — and it disproportionately affects less-educated workers; contested claimants were much less likely to receive benefits and reported greater material hardship and stress.
  3. Because contests can deny legitimate claims and worsen hardship, policymakers should rethink the employer role in UI by limiting contestation, changing tax incentives (for example, taxing layoffs instead of claims), or strengthening worker supports and data collection for appeals.

Who runs Britain?

Comment is Freed • 131 implied HN points • 25 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Public Administration
  1. Many politicians blame a sprawling 'blob'—civil servants, regulators, campaign groups and judges—for blocking their plans.
  2. The prime minister technically has huge powers, but complex institutions, rules and well-connected stakeholders often make it very hard to turn decisions into action.
  3. Blaming the machine or shouting about willpower isn't enough; ministers often lack clear plans or curiosity about how to change systems, so reform needs careful diagnosis and targeted fixes.

Important Announcements

The Upheaval • 1952 implied HN points • 14 Jun 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. A book titled 'Control: The Global Rise and Coming Fall of Managerial Tyranny' is coming soon. It will be an expanded version of previous work on managerialism.
  2. The Substack will be paused indefinitely while the author takes a senior policy role at the State Department. Subscription payments are frozen, but the content will remain accessible.
  3. The author feels it's important to take action in today's world rather than just discuss issues. They hope to return to writing in the future.

How Much Power Does the President Actually Have Over the Civil Service?

Can We Still Govern? • 139 implied HN points • 12 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. The president actually has broad, statutory authority to shape hiring, exemptions, and conduct rules in the federal civil service—far more power than most people assume.
  2. That authority can be used to strengthen administrative capacity or to politicize and weaken agencies, and courts and Congress often defer or fail to check problematic uses.
  3. If we want laws to be implemented faithfully, Congress and the courts need to impose clearer statutory limits and enforce them, because professional norms alone won’t prevent abuse.
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At will? Whose will?

Can We Still Govern? • 254 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. The Supreme Court seems poised to let presidents remove independent agency leaders, which will make agencies more political and reward loyalty over expertise.
  2. The federal government is already operating like an at‑will system right now, with partisan firings and stripped safeguards that weaken career staff, reduce state capacity, and invite corruption.
  3. State experiments with at‑will hiring offer weak, mixed evidence and don’t map well to the federal level; you can’t safely combine lots of political appointees with at‑will employment without risking politicized abuses, so reforms need careful evaluation.

The Economic Legacy of DOGE

Apricitas Economics • 68 implied HN points • 20 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. DOGE produced the largest peacetime cut to the federal workforce in modern US history, cutting about 277,000 jobs (over 9%) and hitting civilian agencies hardest with big reductions at the IRS, VA health system, and USAID.
  2. Despite the massive layoffs, DOGE failed to deliver the promised big budget savings or deficit reduction—total federal spending actually rose and the alleged widespread fraud in major programs was not found.
  3. The layoffs caused real economic harm: Washington, DC fell into a localized recession, federal job losses spread across every state, many former federal workers remain unemployed, and cuts to science, health, and international aid risk longer-term damage to growth.

Best of Can We Still Govern 2025: Readers Picks

Can We Still Govern? • 78 implied HN points • 30 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. American democracy is under serious threat as a rapid pattern of authoritarian moves targets the bureaucracy, military, courts, civil society, higher education, and election administration, with elections likely the next major focus.
  2. Political actors are weaponizing administrative rules and politicizing scientific agencies, and large numbers of ordinary people are actively pushing back against those changes.
  3. Independent platforms and direct communication matter because they let researchers and citizens share warnings, mobilize responses, and reach people outside traditional media.

The Acolyte

Can We Still Govern? • 399 implied HN points • 30 Jul 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. The actions of young DOGE workers reflect a lack of understanding and respect for government, resulting in harmful decisions, like cutting essential programs.
  2. Luke Farritor's story shows how talent can be misused when driven by a desire for approval from powerful figures, leading to actions that harm communities.
  3. A tech-oriented culture that dismisses government can create individuals who are overconfident and lack the experience needed to make thoughtful decisions, causing further damage.

If I Ran the DOGE

In My Tribe • 1199 implied HN points • 17 Nov 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. Reorganizing the government can make it more efficient by reducing the number of management layers and clarifying who is in charge. This could lead to better decision-making and less wasted effort.
  2. Creating a Chief Operating Officer to manage executive branch operations would help streamline authority and reduce overlap between agencies. This would allow a focus on running the government smoothly.
  3. The government could be simplified by cutting down from many agencies to just eight main ones, which would help eliminate redundancy and make it easier to manage services for the public.

Managing The Powerful.

Trying to Understand the World • 6 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Public Administration
  1. A country needs a professional, independent administrative service and experienced advisers to turn leaders' decisions into reality; without that backbone, even capable leaders fail.
  2. Modern politics tends to select for ambitious, careerist, and sycophantic actors rather than people with real managerial or policy skills, which produces poor judgement, delay, and short-term thinking.
  3. The rise of TV, the internet, social media, and personalised political staffs has weakened institutions and pushed governments back toward rule by favourites and amateurs, making states less capable and more erratic.

Guaranteed-income realism

Hypertext • 99 implied HN points • 02 Feb 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. Developing policies like the Child Tax Credit can mirror elements of Milton Friedman's negative income tax, demonstrating the challenges of passing sweeping policies.
  2. Advocates propose refocusing on programs like the Child Tax Credit rather than a more universal approach, citing potential benefits and fewer political obstacles.
  3. Considering alternative approaches like total income phase-out (TIP) for welfare programs could offer new paths forward without requiring immediate program repeals.

Diversifying Doulas?! HHS Spends Hundreds of Millions Spreading DEI Through Medical Community

OpenTheBooks Substack • 265 implied HN points • 12 Nov 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) employs a large team focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), costing taxpayers around $38.7 million each year. This effort includes 294 employees dedicated to creating equitable healthcare practices.
  2. The term 'equity' appears frequently in HHS' budget, showing a strong emphasis on promoting fairness in health services, especially for underserved communities. This includes funding diverse healthcare initiatives and outreach programs.
  3. Federal agencies, like HHS, are combining DEI efforts with traditional civil rights initiatives. This blending can create confusion about how equity policies impact equal treatment in health and employment, leading to potential legal challenges.

The Politics Of Destruction.

Trying to Understand the World • 8 implied HN points • 07 Jan 26
🌍 World Politics Public Administration
  1. Organizations naturally drift toward disorder if you don't put steady effort into them, so politics, militaries and public services need continuous training, leadership and maintenance to stay effective.
  2. Short-term careerism, managerial targets, legalistic controls and a wider cultural nihilism have eroded public ethos and institutional performance in the West, often actively accelerating that decay.
  3. If destruction and neglect continue, political vacuums will form and be filled by forces that may be dangerous, so the cure is long-term commitment: restore purpose, institutional integrity and sustained investment in people and practices.

The definition of madness

Comment is Freed • 112 implied HN points • 30 Nov 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. Governments often miss problems because they focus too narrowly on specific issues, ignoring bigger trends. This makes it hard to spot similar mistakes across different areas of policy.
  2. When the government tries to cut support in one area, it often leads to increased demand for even more expensive services elsewhere. For example, reducing GP appointments has pushed more people to hospital emergency services.
  3. Fixing these problems is tough because once people adapt to new habits, changing them back is hard. To really improve services, governments need to think more broadly and learn from past mistakes.

Making SNAP Interviews More Flexible Increases Take-up

Can We Still Govern? • 96 implied HN points • 06 Dec 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. Making interviews for SNAP more flexible can help more people get the benefits they need. When applicants can choose when to interview, like calling in at their convenience, they are more likely to complete the process.
  2. Reducing procedural denials is important because many people get turned away not due to ineligibility, but because they miss the required interview. By making interviews easier, agencies can save time and money while helping people access food assistance.
  3. Flexible interviews have already shown success in cities like Los Angeles and Boulder, where approval rates increased and benefits were received faster. This shows that small changes in the process can significantly improve access to support for those in need.

A glimpse into the ongoing "zero-based budgeting" fiscal reform in Anhui

Pekingnology • 49 implied HN points • 20 Oct 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. Zero-based budgeting in Anhui means starting from zero each year rather than using last year's budget as a base. This change helps focus on the actual needs and priorities of programs.
  2. During the budgeting process, Anhui discovered many overlapping policies and wasteful spending practices. This shows there was a lack of coordination between different departments.
  3. The reform aims to reduce ineffective spending and improve efficiency, which includes cutting unnecessary policies and reallocating funds to areas that need it the most.

The Billionaire in Charge of the Cops

Political Currents by Ross Barkan • 24 implied HN points • 30 Dec 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. Jessica Tisch is the new NYPD commissioner and is unlike any previous commissioner because she has no traditional law enforcement background and is a Harvard graduate. This is a big change in how the police department is led.
  2. Tisch has significant power because she comes from a wealthy family and does not rely on political support from Mayor Adams, who is in a shaky position. Her wealth means she can act independently and is not easily challenged.
  3. There are many questions about Tisch's vision for policing in New York. While she has the freedom to make changes, her approach to law enforcement and her future ambitions remain unclear.

Mini Exasperation #3

Exasperated Infrastructures • 14 implied HN points • 31 Jan 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. The government needs to rethink how it manages construction and infrastructure projects, possibly shifting oversight to agencies like the Department of Defense for better efficiency.
  2. We should consider changing the Department of Transportation to a Department of Mobility to reflect current needs and focus on how people move rather than just transportation modes.
  3. There’s a call to rethink funding approaches, possibly allowing states more control over their infrastructure budgets, which could help create discussions about the importance of federal support for these projects.

Economics still matters for policy

Economic Forces • 14 implied HN points • 14 Nov 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. Prices show us what's scarce and push us to change our behaviors. They aren't just random numbers—they have meaning.
  2. When something gets more expensive, people usually try to find a cheaper alternative. Higher costs lead to less demand.
  3. Every choice we make comes with trade-offs. If we spend on one thing, we might have to give up something else.

Policy Design: Ideas into Proposals

the best of a great lot • 0 implied HN points • 09 Jun 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Public Administration
  1. Belocracy is a system that helps gather and evaluate policy ideas from citizens. People can suggest problems and solutions, and the best ideas rise to the top.
  2. Policy designers turn these ideas into detailed proposals that consider current laws and societal needs. It's important to have both research and design skills to create effective policies.
  3. In this system, professionals help ensure quality and consistency, but amateurs can still contribute. Lobbyists and political influences are welcome, but they will face scrutiny to ensure policies help society as a whole.