By Tim Baldwin
What is the most important political issue of 2015? The answer depends on what your priorities are. The economy always ranks at the top of the list, for as Alexander Hamilton said in Federalist Paper 30, “Money is, with propriety, considered as the vital principle of the body politic; as that which sustains its life and motion, and enables it to perform its most essential functions.”
But there is more to politics than money. Underlying the economic issue is political philosophy, which is always highly debated and contested because it involves human nature — our very existence as individuals and societies.
With police abuse becoming more realized; foreign wars never ending; illegal immigrants getting a free pass in the U.S.; the federal government spying on Americans without warrant; and the IRS targeting political groups they don’t like, people are asking more often: Do we really have the ability to control government?
When people have control over their government, liberty and prosperity prevail because people know what is in their best interest — ebbs and flows notwithstanding. But when elites control government, the opposite occurs. Perhaps “political power” is not a precisely-stated issue, but I think it’s highly important for 2015. How do we put more power back into people’s hands?
By Joe Carbonari
When we stopped our slide and started back out of our Great Recession, we spent some stimulus money to prime the pump. We got it going but not at full strength or coverage. Our vast middle class has not, as a whole, regained its buying power. Replacement jobs, often multiple, at lower levels, make for stagnant wages and pervasive underemployment. It is economically unhealthy and leaves us at risk.
As a country, most of what we produce goes to ourselves. Seventy percent is consumer driven. When the middle class struggles for money, buying, and general economic activity slows. When the recession forced governments at all levels to cut, police and firefighters, teachers, administrators, and a host of other workers, had their buying power cascade down. Matters were made worse.
How to improve the situation? Create jobs. We didn’t create enough with our original stimulus because we didn’t give it as much push as it needed – not enough spark.
We have needs. Roads and bridges need to be rebuilt. Our educational system needs strengthening and reform. Basic research has been languishing, and our domestic energy teems with opportunity.
Responsible political leadership must take the lead and tell the story straight. We cannot save our way out. We must spend, invest in our middle class (the bulk of our citizens), and the consumers that make our economic engine go.