[Mb-civic] Where Have All the Big Ideas Gone?

[Michael Butler]

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-op-halsteadaug15,1,740834.
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POLITICS

Where Have All the Big Ideas Gone?

Some bold proposals--perfect for either party--could create genuine change.
 By Ted Halstead
 Ted Halstead is president and CEO of the New America Foundation and author
of "The Real State of the Union."

 August 15, 2004

 Each era in American history is defined by a couple of big ideas: the
Homestead Act, the GI Bill, Social Security, the Marshall Plan or the race
to space. Such major social or economic innovations are usually advanced by
our political leaders in response to national turning points. Few would
disagree that the United States has reached another historical juncture.
Where, then, have all the big ‹ and good ‹ ideas gone?

 The paucity of innovative thinking is particularly evident in this
presidential campaign. President Bush has a couple of big ideas ‹ remaking
the Middle East and privatizing Social Security ‹ but they are proving to be
either unworkable or unaffordable. As for Sen. John F. Kerry, he has turned
timidity into an art form.

 So here are seven big ideas for improving our national condition, each of
which defies the conventional political spectrum and could be ripe for the
picking by either party:

€  Every baby a trust-fund baby. Just as the nation broadened the ownership
of land in the 19th century through the Homestead Act, and of houses in the
20th century through the mortgage interest tax deduction, expanding the
ownership of financial assets should be the cause of the 21st century.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair set the example by championing a law that
endows every British newborn with financial assets from birth. We should
follow suit and inaugurate a new era of universal capitalism in the United
States.



€  Universal coverage for universal responsibility. Why not approach health
insurance like car insurance by making it mandatory? Coupled with public
subsidies for those who need them, mandatory insurance could cover all 43
million uninsured Americans and lower the cost of coverage for those who are
insured (by broadening the risk pool to include the young and healthy, the
18- to 34-year-olds who are the most likely to be uninsured), all while
costing the government less than Kerry's plan, which is said to reach 27
million uninsured. 

€  Tax consumption, not work. You would never know it by listening to
politicians, but more than 70% of American families pay more in payroll
taxes than in any other tax. Yet no other tax does more to retard job
creation or to reduce take-home pay, especially among low-income workers. By
eliminating the payroll tax and replacing it with a progressive national
consumption tax, we could create a lot more jobs and generate a lot more
savings ‹ thereby solving our two greatest economic problems at once.

€  End all farm subsidies. Our farm subsidies are vestiges of the past. They
harm farmers and the environment, create agricultural gluts, retard global
free trade, hurt Third World countries and cost taxpayers $20 billion a
year. By ending these subsidies, we could not only alleviate these various
problems but free up the resources to, say, endow every child from birth
with financial assets. While we're at it, let's end all forms of corporate
welfare, which would free up an additional $50 billion for better uses.

€  Family-friendly workplaces. Although the traditional family is no longer
the norm, our workplaces have yet to adapt, penalizing those who need
flexibility to fulfill their caregiving responsibilities, often by depriving
them of good jobs and basic benefits. This two-tier labor market should be
ended by making basic benefits citizen-based instead of employer-based and
by giving all workers the flexibility of today's part-time workers, along
with the benefit security of full-time workers.

€  A race to energy independence. It is a cliche that the United States
should pursue energy independence with the same vigor that once fueled its
race to space. Yet we lack a viable plan to light this new fire. The answer
may lie in another recent revolution ‹ the biotech one ‹ in which a
competition between private industry and a public consortium greatly
accelerated the mapping of the human genome. Why not apply a similar model
to energy efficiency by funding a high-profile contest between public and
private parties?

€  Building a global middle class. At a time of a ballooning trade deficit
and global overcapacity, the U.S. needs other countries to consume more and
to export less. The best way to accomplish both is by exporting the
middle-class development model (such as 30-year mortgages) that created mass
affluence in our own nation half a century ago. By recasting the
globalization debate around the overarching goal of building a global middle
class, we could promote prosperity and stability at home and abroad.



 A presidential election offers candidates to our highest office a rare
chance to step back and think big. By championing bold ideas, they could
reframe the national debate, rally undecided voters and, if elected, create
a mandate for genuine change.

 It is not too late for Bush or Kerry to seize this opportunity.


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