The Crimson hasn't published the editorial that is dearest to my heart yet. But the ball has been moving forward on multicultural theater regardless. I have many updates to share later. In the meantime, it appears that the Harvard Political Review has finally updated its website.
I have to say, I'm four for four on being a featured article in either the Covers Section or the U.S. Section!! This is awesome, because I have no idea what the editors think of what I write before I submit. Apparently something is being done write (I typed write originally and decided not to change it.) I'm still not a staff writer though, because I refuse to get five of my friends to pay for something they can read online for free, so it's funny that they'd give me the honor of featured status...
In any case! This issue of the HPR I think is particularly interesting. You can read the editor's introduction here. I've attached the published article I wrote below.
Laboratories of Reform
BY JASON WONG
In 1932, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously mused that “a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” These days, however, cities have had to step into this experimental role in order to address issues that state and federal governments have left unaddressed. On issues such as the environment and healthcare, cities are taking advantage of their unique capabilities to create and experiment with progressive public policies.
A Green City
When cities perceive federal environmental regulation to be lacking, mayors may seek to address green issues at the local level. In an interview with the HPR, Chicago environment commissioner Suzanne Malec-McKenna explained, “The federal government certainly has not been pro-environmental. There are too many competing interests and the priorities do not seem to be where they need to be.” Reacting to the federal government’s inaction, Chicago has become but one example of environmental activism spearheaded by a local government.
When he took office in 1989, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley made environmental action a priority; he set out to make Chicago the most environmentally friendly city in the country. Since then, the city has passed legislation to reduce carbon emissions, encourage low-sulfur diesel fuel in city vehicles, plant more than half a million trees, and develop almost four million square feet of green roofs. When asked how Chicago became so focused on the environment, Commissioner Malec-McKenna said, “There was an evolution of perspective for all of us… being environmentally friendly became a part of the city infrastructure.” Newly created city departments and public works have allowed Chicago to take advantage of its eco-friendly policies – such its ability to hasten construction permits for green projects – to truly become one of the nation’s greenest cities.
Healthcare by the Bay
On the issue of healthcare, progressive city governments are similarly taking the initiative. Despite federal deadlock concerning the state of healthcare in the United States, or perhaps because of this impasse, San Francisco decided earlier this year to phase in universal access to health care for all San Franciscans in city and county clinics. People, regardless of ability to pay, immigration status, or existing medical conditions have access to this affordable and preventative care.
As in Chicago, leaders in San Francisco felt that federal and state governments were neglecting a critical need in society. Dr. Dana Hughes, a professor of health policy and member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at University of California, San Francisco, told the HPR that “for whatever reason, healthcare is not a priority in the country. San Francisco decided that it didn’t want to wait.” Zachary Tuller, legislative aide to San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who sponsored the critical healthcare legislation, told the HPR, “The city pays a lot of money to treat people who have not received preventative care. There has been no help from the state and federal governments in any meaningful way to address the situation. We had to do that independently of the state and federal government.”
Support for the health care legislation, strongly advocated by Mayor Gavin Newsom, was overwhelming. “It passed with a unanimous vote of the board, which on controversial issues almost never happens,” said Tuller. This push for health care even seems to be catching on at the state level, according to Tuller, because “since the health program has come online, new programs from the state have been formed to defer some costs for innovative health care.”
On issues where state and federal policy has left gaps, local governments are increasingly assuming the role of “laboratories” to generate creative solutions. As Barry Matchett, co-legislative director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, explained, “Cities are flexible. They’re smaller than states; they’re certainly smaller than the federal government, so they can do things that work for their localities, that work for their business communities, and that work for their citizens.” In the absence of progressive reform at higher levels, cities are likely to continue spearheading action on critical, but contentious, issues. When it comes to urgent problems like health care and the environment, many Americans seem unwilling to wait for national solutions.
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