I'd be way late to the game if I tried to mock the recent David Brooks column where he says we need less democracy at the top and more Simpson-Bowles commissions.  It's all been said and I didn't blog about it right when I read it because you've heard it all from me before. Anyway, here's a good way into the issue, if you're interested.

Even asBrooks got things comically wrong (Simpson-Bowles was effective?) I think I'm somewhat interested in how he got there.  It was, he says, jealousy over the perceived effectiveness of China and Singapore and other authoritarian governments.  You know, in New York City we have two decrepit airports (and another in New Jersey) and there's no simple way to rebuild them or to add new commuter rail services to attach them to the city because there are so many vested interests involved.  But in China, if the government says it wants a brand new airport and that airport should sparkle, that it what is (seemingly, to outsiders) exactly what is done.

This glosses over a lot of corruption, of course and it glosses over all the mistakes that are made to build that new high speed train, dam, bridge or airport quickly to please the powerful government officials who have demanded it.  The truth is, if the United States tried to build a Death Star, the project would never get off the ground. First, all of the defense contractors would have to bid and then a bunch of Senators would squabble about whose state should get all the jobs and finally there would be a big debate about whether it's a moon or a space station and thirty years later we'd still be arguing about it.

China could build a Death Star but the fearful and abused laborers would probably overlook a small exhaust porthole that, if shot by a single-manned star fighter, could blow the whole thing to smithereens.  Brooks envies China because they can make a Death Star and he thinks we're a failing nation because we dither.

He's not alone.  This is the sentiment that Thomas Friedman indulges every time he marvels at the pristine airport terminals of Singapore or Dubai.  This is the sentiment that everybody feels some time at the office when they wish the group would stop debating and follow one person's direction because this meeting has leaked over into lunch.

In a lot of ways this is the businessification of American politics.  We wish for a CEO who will make decisions without so much interference and we wish that this CEO will be nice about it.  Good luck with that.  Fortunately, every Death Star has its gas port.