{"podcast":{"title":"ChinaTalk","slug":"chinatalk-418044","podcast_index_feed_id":418044,"rss_url":"https://access.acast.com/rss/6105626053204f0019234612","website_url":"https://chinatalk.substack.com/","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/2906a086-c1c2-11ec-9157-e76a0695a03d/image/show-cover.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Jordan Schneider","episode_count":535,"summary":"Conversations exploring China, technology, and US-China relations. Guests include a wide range of analysts, policymakers, and academics. Hosted by Jordan Schneider. Check out the newsletter at https://www.chinatalk.media/","last_synced_at":"2026-06-13T06:17:09.814900+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/chinatalk-418044"},"episode":{"title":"The American Federal Civil Service: A History","slug":"the-american-federal-civil-service-a-history","published_at":"2026-04-01T01:13:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/chinatalk-418044/the-american-federal-civil-service-a-history","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/chinatalk-418044","url":"https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/CHTAL4417042169.mp3","audio_url":"https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/CHTAL4417042169.mp3","summary":"The history of the American federal civil service — what can we learn from its past glories and failures, and where should we take this next? We have ⁠Kevin Hawickhorst⁠ of the Foundation for American Innovation to discuss: The Pendleton Act myth — Why civil service reform didn’t begin or end with Pendleton, and why starting the story there misses what actually made the system work. The rise of the subject-matter state — How early 20th-century agencies staffed with real experts — entomologists, engineers, agronomists — made the U.S. bureaucracy arguably the most capable in the world. From expertise to org charts — How mid-century functional reorganization hollowed out mission-driven agencies and replaced subject knowledge with process management. What competence delivered — From agricultural breakthroughs to infrastructure build-out, what a serious, technically grounded civil service was able to accomplish. Whether we can rebuild — DOGE, the abundance movement, state capacity, and why this might be the best time in decades to make the government work again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"The history of the American federal civil service — what can we learn from its past glories and failures, and where should we take this next? We have ⁠Kev…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3502,"processing_state":"processed","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/chinatalk-418044/episodes/the-american-federal-civil-service-a-history/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/chinatalk-418044/the-american-federal-civil-service-a-history.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}