Opinion | Moderates Have the Better Story - The New York Times - 0 views
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American progressives have a story to tell, and they are not afraid to tell it. In this story global capitalism is a war zone. Free trade is a racket. Big business and big pharma are rapacious villains that crush the common man
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In this context you need a government prepared for war. You need a government fired by economic nationalism, willing to play trade hardball against our foes. You need a centralized industrial policy to shift investment where it’s needed. You need a government that will protect you, control you and give you thing
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In the moderate story, global capitalism is a challenge but also an opportunity field. Over the past generation more people have been lifted out of poverty than ever before. For the first time we have a mass global middle class. This opens up new opportunities, liberates masses of talent and leads to more creativity than ever before.
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In the moderate story, government has a bigger role than before, but it is not a fighting, combative role. It is a booster rocket role. It is to give people the skills needed to compete and flourish in this open, pluralistic world. It is to give people a secure base, so they can go off and live daring adventures. It is to mitigate the downsides of change, and so people can realize the unprecedented opportunities.
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Progressives want to create a government caste that is powerful and a population that is safe but dependent
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Moderates, by contrast, are trying to create a citizenry that possesses the vigorous virtues — daring, empowered, always learning, always brave.
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they can afford to have strong welfare policies only because they have dynamic free-market economies.
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Nordic countries are more open to free trade than the U.S. They have fewer regulations on business creation, fewer licensing regulations.
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Nordic countries show that social solidarity and economic freedom are not opposite, but go hand in hand
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The Nordic countries tried wealth taxes of the sort Elizabeth Warren is proposing, and all except Norway abandoned them because they were unworkable
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Nordic health plans require patient co-payments and high deductibles, in stark contrast to Bernie Sanders’s plan
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Third, drive decision-making downward. People become energetic, responsible adults by making decisions for themselve
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Moderates emphasize tools that regular people can choose to build their own lives and maximize their own opportunities: wage subsidies, subsidies to help people move to opportunities, charter schools.