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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
The second annual Democracy Works listener mailbag
How to end democracy’s doom loop
The clumsy journey to antiracism
Civil rights, civil unrest
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Free speech from the Founding Fathers to Twitter
Bonus: Mayors and bipartisanship during COVID-19
The people vs. the experts — and those caught in the middle
China’s role in the COVID-19 infodemic
A roadmap to a more equitable democracy
Trust, facts, and democracy in a polarized world
Bonus: Civic engagement, social distancing, and democracy reform
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Federalism in uncertain times
Will COVID-19 create a one-issue campaign?
Public health depends on the Census
Free and fair elections during a pandemic
COVID-19 exposes democracy’s tensions
Populism is not a monolith
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