Editor's Note: This column originially appeared in The Tennessean.
After six years of stagnant incomes, increasing inequality, rising debt and declining confidence, many Americans are rightly anxious about their economic futures.
But the last thing they need is an old populism that plays to their fear, anger and pessimism, and, in the end, will only make matters worse. Yet, there are unmistakable signs of a growing "populist" revolt against globalization, especially immigration and trade.
Right-wing populists claim immigrants are stealing Americans' jobs. Left-wing populists say trade is shipping our jobs overseas. Both look backwards toward an allegedly better past and argue that, by sealing our borders and retreating from global markets, government can recover it.
Our country's problem isn't immigration or trade, It's uneven prosperity. Searching for scapegoats and stoking feelings of victimization is the wrong answer.
What's needed is a new approach based on new economic realities that appeals to the inherent optimism, not the worst fears, of hardworking Americans and prepares them to compete in an economy that will only become more global.
We will discuss that new approach, which we call a new optimism, at the Democratic Leadership Council's National Conversation July 28-30 at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville.
Here are four ideas for beginning that discussion.
First, we need a renewed commitment to fiscal discipline, reforming the federal tax code to reward work, innovators and long-term investing and expanding international trade while vigorously enforcing trade laws to punish rule breakers.
Second, we need to rectify long-standing social injustices and ensure that no U.S. worker is left behind in today's competition for the world's best jobs.
For example, we've got to close America's education achievement gap. It's not only an economic imperative; it's the paramount civil rights issue of our times. Only half of black and Latino youths even finish high school. They routinely score well below whites on standardized math and reading tests. We need to make sure that urban kids have public schools every bit as good as those in the suburbs.
That will require attracting better teachers and paying them well, according to how well they perform, not how long they've been on the job. It will also require replacing dysfunctional urban education systems with new public schools that are smaller, more autonomous and flexible and better customized to the diverse needs of students.
If we want every American child to have the tools to succeed in the global economy, every public school system must meet high standards, lengthen both the school day and school year and ensure effective teachers are in every classroom.
Third, college must be more accessible and affordable for all Americans. The United States used to rank first in the world in the percentage of population with a post-secondary degree. Now we have fallen to seventh.
To reverse this troubling trend, we need to raise college admission standards, tie national service to college tuition and expand student aid, making tuition nearly free at a typical four-year public college, while holding colleges responsible for improving graduation rates for all students, including low-income and minority kids.
Fourth, we must guarantee all Americans affordable health insurance and reduce the cost of health care to individuals and businesses. The United States spends more than $2 trillion annually on health care -- twice as much as any other nation in the world. The problem isn't money. We need to root out inefficiencies and stamp out the greed in our health system. That means, among other things, marrying new and proven cost-saving technologies into the health-care delivery system, encouraging the discovery of cures to old diseases and extending coverage to the millions with no insurance.
There are plenty of other things we should do as well -- including offering portable pensions for all workers.
The key, though, is not just enacting a new array of government programs. It is rewriting the social contract to address the anxieties of hardworking Americans. And, it is rejecting calls from both sides of the political aisle for an old populism that plays to Americans' fears and adopting, instead, a new optimism that speaks to their aspirations, hopes and innate belief that the future can be better than the past. After all, that is the American experience.
