A recommitment to political moderation and pragmatic liberalism

These are troubling times that we live in – that goes without saying.  All across the Western world, fundamental values and institutions – key principles near and dear to so many of us – appear to be under direct, sustained assault.

Given our current political trade winds, many of us have spent the last few months standing in vehement opposition to certain trends, figures, or ideals which we find absolutely repugnant.  It is of paramount importance, however, that we not lose sight of what we are fighting to support – the core notions which frame what we stand for.  And for me, my unyielding faith in a pragmatic, balanced system of political action which delivers civil liberties and economic results for all has not changed based on recent elections.  Just as I believed before 2016:

• I believe that free-market capitalism, guided by the profit motive, has created more wealth and lifted more people globally out of poverty than any government program or any other system of economic organization in the history of humanity.  I believe that capitalism is, objectively, the most superior system for economic organization and the allocation of scarce resources.

• At the same time as I advocate for a capitalist economic system, I also acknowledge the critical importance of a robust social safety and regulatory safeguards to properly bind the operations of the free market in a social and ecological context.  I do not believe that human labor is a commodity, and consequently I do not believe that it should be coldly arbitraged down to the lowest price as if it were one; in my view, a key function of the social safety net is to prevent individuals from slipping below a minimum standard of living, regardless of their capacity for economic output.  I believe that access to quality education and quality healthcare are basic human rights, not privileges of the global wealthy and upper-middle classes.  I believe that all senior and disabled citizens should be provided with an income for the remainder of their lives which allows them to live with dignity.  And I do not believe that private enterprises have an unfettered right to abuse our natural environment as they see fit, particularly given the substantial risks posed by our changing climate. Given the widespread economic malaise being experienced by many millions of workers globally, I believe that it is now more important than ever that those of us in the private sector commit to fostering a more inclusive, more equitable capitalist growth which lifts all boats - not a deregulated, laissez-faire growth which degrades the natural environment and further enriches the fortunate few at the top while pushing all others even further behind.

• I believe that progressive taxation and the equitable - not punitive - redistribution of wealth are critical to achieving this more inclusive capitalist growth.  And I believe that the most financially successful Americans should pay taxes at a rate no lower than the marginal rates paid by those in the middle and upper-middle classes – regardless of whether those wealthy elites derive their income from wages or capital investment.

• I believe in the post-1945 international order, free trade and free cultural exchange between nations, the United Nations, multilateral diplomacy, and the declaration of war only as an absolute last resort.  I believe that an American withdrawal from international free trade and international migration will leave the world overall poorer, more unstable, and ultimately less safe.

• Given our tremendous relative wealth and the disgraceful roles we have often played in perpetrating past global injustices, I believe that the wealthy, industrialized nations of the world have a moral obligation to assist our less well-off brothers and sisters in the developing world.  I believe, however, that this assistance should be primarily geared to developing economic self-sufficiency in those nations, not satisfying a Western "white guilt" through ineffective and often unintentionally destructive aid programs.

• I believe in equality under the law for all.  Central to this belief is my understanding that our Constitutional order calls for a firm separation of church and state and bans discrimination based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, clique, or any other form of identity other than citizenship.

• I believe in common-sense gun control which will serve to bring the United States in-line with gun violence rates in the rest of the developed world.

• I believe that the individual – not the state or a religious deity - has supreme sovereignty and privacy over his or her own body, and I therefore stand firmly in favor of full reproductive rights for women, including most notably the right to abortion on demand, the right to physician-assisted suicide, and the right to utilize recreational drugs.

• While I believe that we still face considerable challenges in terms of racial and gender equality in society – far more challenges, sadly, than I would have acknowledged before our most recent Presidential election – I still do not believe that the United States is a fundamentally, institutionally racist or sexist nation.  I believe that the left’s fanatical embrace of the language of critical theory and the “privilege dialectic”, coupled with a blind faith in the “intersectionality” of all forms of oppression, unnecessarily complicates these matters, breeds hostility in groups who might otherwise be allied to a broader movement for social justice, and therefore retards practical discourse on effective manners to drive progress.  On the other extreme, I believe that the conservative right-wing continues to ignore issues of social injustice at best, and to actively perpetuate them at worst.

These are the values that I hold most dear - the values that I will continue to fight for until I perish from this life.

As we brace for a long battle ahead, I hope that you are finding time to keep the big picture in mind – to remember what you stand for, and to advocate for it in the days ahead more forcefully than you ever have before.