[10][11] In 2012, Howard curated a six-month series for The Atlantic called “America the Fixable,” which featured numerous guest writers giving their reform ideas on specific topics.

[17] In a column for The Washington Post commenting on the paper, George F. Will wrote: “So, ‘slowly but inevitably a sense of powerlessness’ pervades public and private institutions.”[18] In April 2017, Howard joined President Donald Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum,[19] advising on infrastructure permitting.

[23] In June 2020, Howard launched the nonpartisan Campaign for Common Good calling for “spring cleaning commissions” and proposing simplified government regulation in areas like healthcare and education.

"[32] Between 2010 and 2014, Howard was a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart three times, where he talked about starting a movement to streamline government and restore individual responsibility at every level of society.

[36] Writing in The Washington Post, Robert Litan described Try Common Sense as a call "for pushing a giant reset button" and noted that Howard "makes a convincing case that in many ways government doesn't work.

[40][41][42] In his newsletter, Sanity Clause, Joe Klein called Not Accountable “the clearest case against this flagrant distortion of American democracy.”[43] Union leader Randi Weingarten criticized the book as “a barrage of empty right-wing rhetoric.”[44] In discussing Everyday Freedom, Francis Fukuyama wrote "Philip's argument is an important one that needs to be made.