Not very good governance
As the country struggles to regain its footing following last month’s federal government shutdown, public outrage and dissatisfaction with Congress and the White House are at an all-time high. To many, elected officials in Washington appear to do little more than bicker and obstruct good-faith efforts to resolve some of the nation’s economic and social problems. “Around the world, people looked at us and scratched their heads and began to wonder about the United States: Is the American Experiment unraveling?” Harvard President Drew Faust said as she opened a panel on capital partisanship and gridlock at Harvard Kennedy School’s (HKS) John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum Wednesday night. “I think we all are searching for answers.” Karen Gordon Mills ’75, M.B.A. ’77, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration from 2009 to this year and currently a fellow at the Institute of Politics (IOP) at HKS, moderated a panel that included Alex Keyssar, Matthew...