Abundance
by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
Image From Goodreads
“It is childish to declare government the problem. It is just as childish to declare government the solution.”
“What is missing from both sides is a clearly articulated vision of the future and how it differs from the past.”
“What matters is not what gets spend. What matters is what gets built.”
We have serious problems in America. And I each day I become more convinced that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have the solutions. The problem, as the authors correctly identify, is that both parties live in a mindset of scarcity. We focus on what we lack rather than what we can build. It wasn’t always so. F.D.R. oversaw massive public works projects that catapulted rural areas into the 20th Century. Eisenhower proposed the interstate highway system, which has arguably done more to enhance commerce than anything else. Ronald Reagan had an optimistic message about abundance and what we can collectively accomplish if only we dared to look big. Obama, did as well. Love him or not, he wanted us to dream about what this country could become if we allowed ourselves to look beyond narrow parochial interests. That message is sorely missing today. Americans and their leaders need to think about abundance. Big and bold are absent. Policies should enable, not stifle building. Not just housing but large infrastructure projects that will ensure economic viability into the 22nd Century. We need more, not less, government-funded research and development, because that is how we achieve the next game-changing technological breakthrough. I have felt this way for some time but haven’t been able to articulate it in quite the same manner as Klein and Thompson.
I really want everyone to read Abundance. Everyone. Right, left, Republican, Democrat, or anywhere in between or on the edges. Unfortunately, those on the right will ignore this book because of the liberal bent of the authors. This would be a mistake. Likewise, I imagine some on the left will dismiss it since its message flies in the face of five decades of liberal activism. But to the pragmatic citizen, one who wants real change and a sustainable future, I think they will find a compelling vision of a future we can all move toward.
Klein and Thompson freely admit their liberalism – which will come as no surprise to the followers of their respective podcasts. However, rather than come at this thesis from a partisan angle, they focus instead on chastising what they see as a finite mindset based on scarcity. They admit most conservatives will not read it due to their basic assumptions of climate change and sustainability. But the authors proceed for 200+ pages to chastise liberals for their over reliance on bureaucratic process, NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard), burdensome regulations, and an overall failure to build housing and other necessary infrastructure projects. The authors, for instance, are extremely critical about California’s high housing costs and homelessness. Most conservatives (real conservatives) should embrace these underlying arguments and, if they were intellectually honest, would want the government to work more effectively and efficiently to fix these matters rather than rely on private enterprise to fix all society’s ills.
As one with an intimate experience in onerous, conflicting, and overlapping regulations, I welcome a streamlined common-sense approach to building a clean and sustainable future. Unfortunately, we cannot reach this future if we remain on our current trajectory. If both parties were smart, they would use this book as a blueprint for real government efficiency (not a fake and arbitrary DOGE “efficiency”) and create an abundant and economically prosperous future. I’m sold. I want this future. For decades I imagined it. To make this happen, however, conservatives need to understand the government is not the enemy and that it has a profound role. Liberals, on the other hand, must abandon their bureaucratic fetish and embrace the power of the private sector can play in a creating an efficient and sustainable world for our children’s children.
At the risk of pissing people off, many in Washington – including the current administration – think in terms of scarcity. A framework of abundance does not seem to compute within their world view. Abundance is positive, meaningful, and open. It is not small, fixed, or closed. The proverbial pie does not consist of one flavor. Hell, there isn’t even one pie. We can bake more pies. We can bake more than one flavor of pie. Unfortunately, Liberals have done much to feed the mindset of ineffective government. They did it to themselves and the results show. The authors provide plenty of examples of liberal activism run amok. And what is to show for it? Rampant homelessness in the bluest states and unaffordable housing prices. There is one fix for it, and it isn’t scarcity. Build more. Build better. Build bigger. There isn’t just one pie that everyone is vying for. Bake more pie. Better yet, bake more pie with new ingredients. Housing isn’t high because immigrants are taking all the housing and increasing prices. Housing is high because there are not enough houses. This book is a blueprint for whoever wants to take advantage of it. It is a compelling and winning argument. I honestly don’t care who, but one side or the other needs to adopt a vision of abundance. The way to dig ourselves out of our present is to build the future.