Political Theory for the Institutional Left Part 3

Ezra Klein and the Toll of Mediating Institutions

Democrats are the party of mediating institutions. They treat Democrats differently from Republicans. And some Democrats, like Klein, are starting to think they have the worse side of this bargain.

Large Democratic projects have drastically more middlemen than Republican projects. Democratic spending bills like the CHIPS Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the American Rescue Plan are by nature going to be more convoluted than Republican counterparts, because of each party's political coalition.

The problem is more acute in Left-dominated cities like San Francisco or Washington, D.C. For anything to happen, politicians must rise to the considerable task of appeasing all these interest groups, from social justice groups to unions to developer interests. “the inability or the unwillingness to choose among competing priorities — to pile too much on the bagel — is itself a choice, and it’s one that California keeps making,” Ezra writes.

The Left turns to a classic political economy solution: