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https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/ezra-klein-on-vetocracy

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In my review last week of Ezra Klein\'s\\xa0Why We\'re Polarized, I linked to a related\\xa0Vox article on vetocracy:

In a viral essay, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen makes a simple exhortation: It\\u2019s time to build. Behind the coronavirus crisis, he writes, lies \\u201cour widespread inability to build.\\u201d America has been unable to create enough coronavirus tests, or even enough cotton swabs to fully utilize the tests we do have. We don\\u2019t have enough ventilators, ICU beds, personal protection equipment. The government hasn\\u2019t built the capacity to quickly get money to people or businesses who need it.

And it\\u2019s not just the coronavirus. The US could be building our way out of the housing crisis and the climate crisis. We could be building a better education system, more advanced infrastructure. We could have more and better factories, supersonic aircraft, delivery drones, flying cars [...]

I think Andreessen is uncharacteristically underestimating the appetite for building. The absence of creation doesn\\u2019t reflect an absence of desire \\u2014 even in that epicenter of supposed stagnation, Washington, DC.

I\\u2019ve covered Congress for almost 20 years. The place is littered with proposals to construct universal pre-K and reimagine the health system, to decarbonize the US economy and incentivize drug development through prizes and solve the housing crisis. They just don\\u2019t pass. It\\u2019s become a running joke in Washington that every week is \\u201cinfrastructure week.\\u201d But we\\u2019re not rebuilding American infrastructure