Thread by @DKThomp

This is one of the most important articles I'll write all year—and the most complete framework for how I'm thinking about progress, public policy, and a better future for all Americans:

America needs an "abundance agenda"

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

Think about how often scarcity has been the story of the pandemic:

- First, we were told to not wear masks, bc there weren't enough.
- Then we were told to not get booster shots, bc there weren't enough.
- Now some ppl are worried about hoarding tests, bc there aren't enough.

Now think about how supply side snafus have also become a major storyline in the economy

- We didn't invest in port technology, and now we have a supply bottleneck at the ports
- We watched legal immigration collapse for years, and now we have a labor shortage

In America today, there is too much venting and not enough inventing.

We say we want to save the planet from climate change. But in practice, Americans—yes, often progressives—are a pack of clean energy NIMBYists, standing athwart green energy projects, screaming "stop!"

This is an attempt to sketch out a political philosophy that combines
a) the left's care for human welfare, esp for the most vulnerable
b) libertarians' focus on barriers to progress
c) the right's fixation on national greatness

There is a synthesis view. It's abundance.

I'm going to be building on the abundance agenda for the rest of the year in my newsletter.

Subscribe and help me build it

theatlantic.com/newsletters/

And, finally, thanks to the many people whose work has inspired this project: @ezraklein, @AlecStapp, @calebwatney, @mattyglesias, @Noahpinion, @ATabarrok, @elidourado ,@jasoncrawford, @patrickc, @ModeledBehavior, @conorsen, and @NiskanenCenter