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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
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Introducing: When the People Decide
Democracy's summer blockbusters
Can American democracy have nice things?
Baby Boomers and American gerontocracy
No Jargon: How white Millennials think about race
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Debating the future of debates
What student debt says about democratic institutions
Combating disinformation at home and abroad
Jon Meacham on creating a more perfect union
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Russia and Ukraine: How we got here
Defending democracy at home and abroad
What academic freedom really means in a democracy
Tracing the rise of illiberalism
Moving beyond news deserts and misinformation
How national parties are breaking state politics
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