In the 'Abundance' Debate, Both Sides Get It Wrong
Democrats should learn that they can be more boldly reformist and more assertively redistributionist at the same time.
The Senator from Vermont is half right.
Photographer: Jason Connolly/AFP via Getty Images
Democrats are on the outs and looking for the next big thing to bring them back to power. One idea prominently endorsed by former Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown in the pages of the New Republic and by current Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders at a series of large-scale rallies is populism. On this telling, Democrats need to stand up harder for workers and thunder more about oligarchy.
The more wonkish wing of the party has rallied around a contrary idea put forth in “Abundance,” a new book from New York Times columnist Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson of The Atlantic. They call for a renewed emphasis on economic growth — or abundance - and state capacity, lowering barriers that make it hard to do big things such as build homes, develop new energy sources or launch civil engineering projects.