How Government Can Get Sh*t Done: Marc Dunkelman on Why Nothing Works
Release Date: 06/05/2025
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info_outlineThis week, we bring you another episode of our series on How Government Can Get Sh*t Done, as co-host Ryan Coonerty sits down with Marc Dunkelman, professor and author of Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress- and How to Bring it Back. Marc discusses the barrier preventing the government from solving problems and achieving broadly shared goals, what it will take to instigate meaningful change, the lessons we’ve learned from Trump’s second term in office, and how building more housing fits into progressivism and government reform. They also talk about The Vanishing Neighbor: The Transformation of American Community - Marc’s decade-old book that still holds weight today – and the importance of making decisions when it’s in everyone’s best interest.
IN THIS EPISODE:
• [00:00] Author Marc Dunkelman describes his latest book, Why Nothing Works.
• [04:03] Balancing the Jeffersonian and Madisonian approaches to governance.
• [06:08] The levels of government where power is best yielded to effect meaningful change.
• [10:46] Lessons learned from the second Trump administration.
• [15:48] How housing aligns with progressive thought and how it fits into government reform.
• [20:22] Marc’s The Vanishing Neighbor: how it’s more relevant now than 10 years ago.
• [27:06] Making big decisions, with everyone’s input, and knowing not everyone will be happy.
• [31:26] More examples of why making decisions is vital for progress.
• [36:18] The mentality holding progressives back and what they can do to overcome it.