Across America, political discussions quickly become emotional, and good people on both sides of the aisle dig in, blaming the “other side.” Our political tribes want us to believe that a villain is responsible for our challenges as a nation. Perhaps immigrants, minorities, and poor people are to blame? Or is it the One Percent, Wall Street, and Silicon Valley who are robbing us? The solutions are similarly polarizing and one-dimensional: starve the government and let people scrabble out whatever lives they can, or tax and demonize wealth and success until “fairness” is achieved. Neither of these is the path we must take.
Why does it seem that our leaders think American people are too stupid or entrenched to accept a radically, rationally moderate agenda? We have successfully done so in the past, and we should again now. Most of us agree on the big ideas caught in Washington’s gridlock, from gun control to climate change and beyond. After the Parkland shooting, approximately two-thirds of Americans expressed support for additional restrictions on gun ownership. Roughly the same proportion worry about climate change. People want generally lower taxes, but they like basic benefits. There is, in short, an emerging consensus in this country, from what we might call the “rational center.” But this consensus has stalled because it lacks a single, animating, coherent principle – a simple message in which we can believe.
I am calling for an America with a “strong floor, and no ceiling.” We need to champion an agenda – a great new vision – that promises to minimize the government’s drag on innovation and achievement, while also providing a baseline of security for those struggling to survive and thrive. Not one or the other – as people on the left and right would have you believe – but both, at the same time.
Let me begin with the Strong Floor. Inequality is destructive. To be clear, this doesn’t mean that we must all have the same means; socialism is literally bankrupt. No, it means that the devastation of our middle class, eaten away by changing job dynamics and a persistent assault on our welfare programs, is a real problem. Our education and healthcare systems, the foundation of social mobility and wellness, are lacking. A Strong Floor blends important government safety net programs with the good education and healthcare that unleash individual opportunity. We also need that opportunity to be available to all our citizens; all genders, races, backgrounds, and viewpoints. We often hear that "talent is universal, but opportunity is not," and a Strong Floor will help us do better.
Here’s a stunning fact: we are not stronger when people are dying on the streets, destitute, unable to participate in our national story. The system’s days are surely numbered, if the vast majority of people feel that their social contract is no longer being honored (or never was, in the case of many minority groups). The disappearance of the stable “old jobs” – the ones that came with pension, healthcare, benefits, predictability, promotions, and pride – has left many hardworking Americans one health crisis, family member in trouble, or piece of bad luck away from feeling on the precipice. These spirals are self-reinforcing, whether it’s death by school debt, jail time for a minor infraction, or an acute health trauma that leads to a chronic condition. These are the stories we’ve all heard that destroy lives, stifle hope, and prevent families from buying a home, taking care of loved ones and kids, and retiring to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
We are a charitable society, whether that comes from our religious roots or our strong character. But we are also self-interested and pragmatic. The good news is that both of these motivations lead one to a Strong Floor. We cannot morally allow destitution and stagnation, but these are also bad for business, security, health, civility, and ultimately the very survival of our republic. We must commit ourselves to ensuring that there is a floor beneath which we must not let our fellow Americans fall.
By the same token, however – perhaps as an overreaction to rising income inequality – there has been a movement to vilify success and wealth. You are somehow doing something inherently wrong – even shameful – if you work in finance or sell a company for a lot of money. We have a truly messed up relationship with wealth in our country, at once manning the barricades to tax Wall Street out of business, but also flipping through the Instagrams of the wealthiest among us. The battle lines have been drawn. You are either for taxes, helping people, and being fair, or you are a greedy capitalist without a conscience who is partying until the music stops.
This is a toxic narrative. America was built on the success of a vibrant private sector, the Horatio Alger tales, the start-ups that create new industries, and people striving for wealth. We have always revered the American Dream, entrepreneurship, hard work, and chasing success.
To be sure, rules and boundaries must exist (and always have) around how we create wealth. It’s like playing football; we expect our team to play as hard as possible, but there are referees, goalposts, and penalties. So we play within the rules and celebrate the incredible achievements of our athletes on the field. Sadly, we removed many of the rules that governed the game since the Great Depression, at least partially accounting for the income inequality that is running rampant. Instead of railing at the government or burning bankers in effigy, we should be focused on putting reasonable, smart rules back in place andremoving the mess of unnecessary ones that stifle commerce. In this, by the way, government isn’t “the problem,” nor is it the unilateral solution – it is a key ally and referee in a multi-sector approach.
Let me give a quick example of what I mean by rational moderation. Let’s take education, possibly the single key ingredient in social mobility and a successful person or society. Here we are in the most extraordinary nation in history, and our education system is not up to the task of making us competitive. Most children aren’t getting what they need, but especially poor children. They might be poor black and Hispanic children in the inner cities, or poor white children in the heartland and Appalachia. All the same, they start at a huge disadvantage, which doesn’t get better over time. It’s pretty hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you don’t have an education (which today pretty much requires broadband internet access, for example, absent in so many schools). We need some conservatives to let us teach real science in school, and some liberals to let us make sure unions aren’t protecting teachers who are no good at their jobs. This is just the tip of the iceberg here, but, clearly, getting education right is not an option for our society, and no “side” has all the answers.
Now, skeptics might object that such compromises are impossible. They would insist that you can’t have a strong floor and no ceiling at the same time. They’re just wrong.
The boundless opportunity of No Ceiling requires robust markets and an educated, empowered society. After all, wealthy people and the middle class depend on a system that works and a healthy society to buy all those goods and services. By the same token, the Strong Floor needs a powerful economy. Society depends on successful entrepreneurs and businesspeople to keep the engine and the growth flowing. We all want a fair, right-sized government making sure that this all happens generally smoothly. The stronger the economy, the stronger our government programs can be. The Strong Floor and No Ceiling are symbiotic; they need each other.
So much of the frustration bursting at the seams today comes from the fact that with the rules gone, social mobility is crushed, and the ladders have been pulled up behind the shrinking middle class. When we stop allowing people to climb up after us – those from disadvantaged backgrounds, immigrants, and more – the engine of the American Dream sputters and dies. This is not the work of an entire class of people – it’s the work of a few selfish folks (across sectors) who misunderstand what truly makes this country the greatest in the history of the world. With information flowing the way that it does today – pushing us further apart by algorithm – and many Americans stuck in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we are not making decisions with good common sense. These people have manipulated our system to paralyze the beautiful balance our founding fathers conceived.
In the coming months, I will continue to share ideas on this theme. These will be real policies from the rational center that can make a difference. I look forward to interacting with you on this important topic, and to do my part to see this vision become reality for our country.
Building a Strong Floor with No Ceiling requires a powerful partnership. The times of massive and inclusive growth in our country have mirrored times when the government, wealthy people and businesses, charities and major institutions were aligned in providing a fighting chance for all people. We have the data, the money, the talent, and the will to continue to grow as a nation. I am optimistic, but we need a vision; I believe in a Strong Floor, and No Ceiling.