# Washington's Five Tricks **URL:** **By** David Schoenbrod, Trevor Burrus, Aaron Ross Powell **Published:** October 20, 2017 --- David Schoenbrod shares five specific tricks that politicians from both parties use to avoid public accountability. David Schoenbrod shares five specific tricks that politicians from both parties use to avoid public accountability. Is Washington more broken than people think? How can we more properly align our elected representatives' incentives to keep them accountable? Does Congress have the willpower to change the rules of the game? **Show Notes and Further Reading** Schoenbrod's newest book is [_DC Confidential: Inside the Five Tricks of Washington_](https://www.amazon.com/DC-Confidential-Inside-Tricks-Washington/dp/1594039119/) (2017), and [here is the book's website](http://www.dc-confidential.org/).