How Liberals — Yes, Liberals — Are Hobbling Government
About this episode
Bagley, a University of Michigan law professor and former chief legal counsel to Governor Gretchen Whitmer, argues liberals suffer a 'procedural fetish' that hobbles the government they claim to champion. The administrative state — the agencies that actually decide environmental, health and countless other policies — is, he says, strangled by notice-and-comment rulemaking, judicial review, environmental litigation and FOIA requests that, perversely, mostly serve corporations. He traces this to the 1960s-70s, when Vietnam, Watergate and corporate capture turned progressives from New Deal administrators into outside litigators who distrusted state power. Procedures don't prevent capture, he argues — industry out-participates the public 10-to-1 — and legitimacy comes from government that is capable and responsive, not from procedural regularity. The stakes: housing shortages and green infrastructure blocked by laws like NEPA and CEQA. Liberals must, he concludes, embrace effective government even knowing a future Trump could wield it.