Julie Langer

Facts and formal rationality alone will not save democracy or address the climate crisis. Something more is needed alongside. Something that touches upon our deepest commitment to substantive, ethical values.

We cannot stand by silently as democracy and human rights are whittled away. Speak up. Stand up. Take whatever action you can.

“The question is: how are freedom and democracy in the long run at all possible under the domination of highly developed capitalism? Freedom and democracy are only possible where the resolute will of a nation not allow itself to be ruled like sheep,” - Max Weber

What we’re witnessing in America is what happens when disordered discourse captures a political party, then the state itself. The Republican Party was the first to fall - abandoning truth for conspiracy, ideology for grievance, and policy for performative outrage.

"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty." - Hannah Arendt

I will never forget the photo of Zelenskyy’s face after he saw Russia’s war crimes in Bucha in 2022. He seemed to age years in an afternoon. Watching him constantly cross the world asking for aid that should have been thrown at him is one of the deepest shames of our age.

There are currently 1 million people waiting to receive benefits. Long wait times have become a nearly universal experience in recent years. Between 2018 and 2025 alone, the average wait time to receive a decision on a benefit application increased from 110 days to 240 days. It’s not unusual to wait years before eligible individuals ultimately receive benefits. The consequences of waiting are already devastating. In 2023 alone, over 30,000 people died waiting to receive benefits. Between 2008 and 2019 1.2% of applicants died while waiting, and a similar fraction went bankrupt.

Cutting half of the agency staff will harm all Social Security beneficiaries, and it may be financially devastating for some, but it will be almost universally devastating for people with disabilities. The disability benefit system is already broken, these cuts will smash it to smithereens.

If you are part of a Public Administration program, now is the time to elevate and require ethics courses for all students. If you’re in the field, dust off those codes of ethics and make them visible - in conversation, programs, procurement and beyond.

Doubling down on facts and formal rationality alone won’t stop this. We need a radical re-commitment to creating an ethical reality defined by universal values: care, accountability, integrity, and love. The future of government—and our freedom—may depend on it.

For decades, that power has been rooted in formal expertise and merit. Now, old patterns of patronage, personal loyalty, and a quest for absolute power are creeping back in.

Over a century ago, the “father” of bureaucracy warned us about the power of bureaucracies to vigorously pursue the interests sought by those who control them.

Bureaucracy and the Imaginal Realm: Max Weber, Rationality and the Substantive Basis of Public Administration Abstract. Max Weber is an important figure in Public Administration. Nearly all foundational texts in the field include his theory of bureaucracy. Yet, alt

A reminder that bureaucracy can uphold democracy—or be a tool for elite, authoritarian interests. Facts alone won’t stop this evolution. We must reclaim ethical values like care, integrity, and accountability before it's too late. Full thoughts below.

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1. What is Donald Trump doing to our state? I explain this in my new book (co-authored with Stephen Hanson). It's not what you think. A thread: