The differences between Republicans and Democrats in 2024 have become clear thanks to their national conventions, but they also revealed a commonality between liberals and conservatives: They both want the national government to play a much more active role in the private lives of Americans.
The November election will be a referendum on government engagement. The question between the lines will not be whether government should be more involved in our lives, but how.
In the good old days of electoral politics, Republicans could be counted on to support a limited national government that existed primarily for national defense. They left individual choice and liberty alone.
Not in 2024. Republican nominee Donald Trump says he wants to destroy the administrative state. The mission statement for the conservative group Project 2025 states:Giving back sovereignty to the American peopleThat’s a smokescreen.
Other pages in the manual and in Trump’s speeches say: A completely different picture, A government that interferes with who you love, what religion you practice, what medical care you get, what your children learn in school, what books you can have in your library, and what energy you use (spoiler alert: fossil fuels). reveal We should be careful about our freedom of speech, lest we criticize him and the FBI come after us. We should also be careful about how we assemble, because no one wants to experience first-hand the most feared military in the world.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz undoubtedly spoke for many Americans. Conference Speech On Wednesday, he told Republicans to “focus on your job.”
A very different type of government action was heard from speakers at the Democratic National Convention. They offered a long list of proposals to improve the lives of low-income and middle-class Americans. A frequent theme was the American “opportunity economy.” Trump, the poet laureate of the United States and known for his vile attacks and derogatory nicknames, called Harris “a great man.” “Comrade Kamala.”
Trump and his allies can be expected to repeatedly use the word “socialism” to characterize Democratic activist government proposals, a term that has proven highly effective in the past as a rhetorical stun gun to thwart progressive proposals.
Harris and the Democratic Party must not let that happen this time. Instead, they should lean into the many worthy ideas they have offered to improve the lives of those disadvantaged by income and wealth inequality. The reason they continue to advocate for these ideas is simple: The American people remain the nation’s most underutilized natural resource.
What is an “opportunity society”? Former President Obama defined it in his inaugural address in 2013. “We are true to our beliefs,” he said. said“When a girl born into the deepest poverty knows that because she is an American she has the same chance to succeed as anyone else, she is free and she is equal in our eyes as well as in the eyes of God.”
Distinguished speakers at the Democratic National Convention, including Harris and Waltz, provided living proof that, as the old adage goes, someone born into humble origins can grow up to become president or hold other high office in America. But the talents and potential of millions of other Americans remain untapped, to the detriment of themselves and of society.
Last year, a columnist for The New York Times Joseph Stiglitz reported“The gap between ideal and reality could not be wider. Today, the United States offers less equality of opportunity than other industrialized nations. Study after study debunks the myth that America is the land of opportunity…. Economic mobility in the United States is lower than in most of Europe and lower than the entire Scandinavian nation.”
About 38 million Americans, that is. 11.5 percentThey are suffering from poverty. 13 million children (About 1 in 5) people in the top 10% of Americans are hungry. 70 percent of the nation’s wealthMeanwhile, the bottom 50% own just 2.5%.
Women at all educational levels are paid lower wages than men About the same type of work. 90 percent This summer, about 256,000 Gen Z students are short of money to pay for college next year. And about 256,000 Americans “Sacrifice Zone” Power plants and industrial pollution significantly increase the risk of cancer.
America’s Founding Fathers proclaimed the pursuit of happiness to be an inalienable, God-given right. World Happiness Report The ranking, which focuses on countries’ per capita GDP, social support, healthy life expectancy, interpersonal tolerance and freedom to make personal choices, has seen the United States drop to 23rd place, down from 15th in 2023.
Interestingly, all 10 of the world’s happiest countries have some form of universal health care, and six of them Free university tuitionConservatives will continue to call it socialism if Democrats take steps to recreate that happiness here, but their accusations could backfire. The Pew Research Center Two-thirds of Americans Eighty percent of people said the federal government should guarantee health insurance for everyone, and 80% said Social Security should either remain the same or be expanded to provide more benefits to more people. 78 percent 1 in Americans support free college tuition.
So rather than flinching at cries of socialism, Democrats should commit to an opportunity agenda, embedding it in a concerted and ambitious national equal opportunity initiative, and pointing out that economic springboards and safety nets are in their interest, because more successful Americans mean more tax revenues and higher economic productivity, reducing the need for social safety nets.
Harris’ rapid rise and Democratic Convention In Chicago, anything seems possible. This could be one of the most satisfying elections in a long time, followed by the most satisfying new president.
Now, regardless of party affiliation, we must find a way to stop Trump from ruining all the fun.
William S. Beckeris a co-editor and contributor to“Democracy Unleashed: How to Rebuild a Government for the People”and contributors“Democracy in Hotter Times”He is executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project.
