Jon Stewart has spent some time on his “Daily Show” scorning Paulย LePage. Yet Stewart and our governor have something important inย common. They both admire Philip K. Howard’s most recent book, The Ruleย of Nobody:ย Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government. When Iย gave Paul the book last month he noted the insert on its coverย containing Stewart’s warm praise without comment, and turnedย immediately to the index and bibliography. This is what knowledgeableย “expert readers” do to form an idea about where an author is comingย from. Intrigued to read that Howard, a one-time adviser to Al Gore andย much admired by liberals like Stewart, had drawn from the works ofย Friedrich Hayek, Peter Drucker, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Adam Smith,ย the governor promised to read the book as soon as he finished a workย on JFK he was reading at the time.
When I met Paul at the May 8 Governor’s Hill Mansion receptionย honoring the GOP state chairman, Rick Bennett, he was clearlyย delighted by Howard’s insights into governmental dysfunction. He toldย he found himself underlining every other sentence for emphasis untilย he decided that he might as well underline it all. I noticed that heย lifted a line from the book for his speech to the reception audience.ย The Rule of Nobody repeatedly supports and amplifies the points aboutย dysfunctional government that Paul LePage has made in public and inย private meetings.
It does not follow that these men agree across the board. They mayย disagree on global warming, income tax abolition, renewable energyย portfolios or even constitutional interpretation. It is sometimesย possible to infer the writer’s views on questions peripheral toย governmental effectiveness. Often it is not; and the governor’sย interest is focused on the book’s central subject in any case.
This was no surprise to me. The longest private conversation I haveย had with the man, was on a drive from Waterville to Bangor and backย before he announced his intention to run. His conversation was focusedย on the means and methods of achieving organizational efficiency. Weย spoke very little about philosophy or “ideology.” His supporters makeย much of Paul’s experiences as a businessman, but often glide over theย specifics. It’s important that a large part of his career was as aย “turn-around” specialist, as a consultant who job it was to convertย declining, low-profit, or no-profit concerns into viable enterprises.ย Clearing out inefficiencies was always critical to those tasks.
There’s a philosophical, as opposed to managerial principleย influencing Paul LePage’s intense interest in improving governmentalย performance. His genuine sympathy for the ordinary taxpayer reinforcesย his anger at the sight of every dollar dribbled away because ofย cumbersome, irresponsible, and futile operations that infectย bureaucratic and legislative operations. The Rule of Nobody interestsย him because of the light it sheds on the systemic problems afflictingย American government and American politics.
No one who has surveyed Paul’s personal library could be surprised toย learn that he’s ready to learn from reading books by authors withย strong liberal credentials. His shelves contain a fair representationย of books by liberal authors. He resembles Mr. Howard in this: hisย interests are not fenced by ideological boundaries. People who areย genuinely interested to discover why our governor remained unsatisfiedย with the moderate regulatory reforms passed in his first year willย find an explanation in Howard’s book.
We said John
Pretty obvious why many remain unsatisfied. The “moderate” regulatory reform only amounted to changin’ the R to a P.