Winehole23
01-08-2014, 02:35 PM
Conservatism properly understood is deeply concerned about society's vulnerable and about the health and functioning of society more broadly. Consequently, conservatives should be concerned about one of the most immediate and serious economic and social problem facing the country today — our deeply troubled labor market — and about the millions of unemployed workers who are suffering, unable to find work to provide for themselves and their families.
Our unemployment crisis is certainly an economic crisis. We are losing a lot of income by having so many productive resources sitting on the sidelines, and (as some Republicans are always quick to point out) we are also spending a lot of taxpayer money on the social safety net.
But work is about much more than production, economic growth, and dollars and cents. Work harnesses our passions by channeling them to productive ends. Work gives us a sense of identity, a sense of purpose, and allows us to provide for those we love. Our unemployment crisis is therefore also a moral and spiritual crisis — a human crisis.
The solution to this crisis does not consist of massive short-term stimulus programs, industrial policy, cumbersome new bureaucracy, unnecessary regulation, and cronyist giveaways. Neither will the best solution be found in lower marginal income-tax rates, cuts in federal discretionary spending, and a balanced budget, whatever the benefits of such policies may be.
Instead, creative, genuinely conservative policies should be proposed and employed — policies that empower individuals, support their aspirations, increase their independence, help them to earn their own success, and promote virtue through work and personal responsibility.
Government should not sit idly by and watch the employment crisis. Indeed, government at every level has a central role to play in the effort to get the unemployed working again, and conservative policy solutions offer the prospect of success. It is time for conservatives to recognize this, and get to work.
http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/a-jobs-agenda-for-the-right
Our unemployment crisis is certainly an economic crisis. We are losing a lot of income by having so many productive resources sitting on the sidelines, and (as some Republicans are always quick to point out) we are also spending a lot of taxpayer money on the social safety net.
But work is about much more than production, economic growth, and dollars and cents. Work harnesses our passions by channeling them to productive ends. Work gives us a sense of identity, a sense of purpose, and allows us to provide for those we love. Our unemployment crisis is therefore also a moral and spiritual crisis — a human crisis.
The solution to this crisis does not consist of massive short-term stimulus programs, industrial policy, cumbersome new bureaucracy, unnecessary regulation, and cronyist giveaways. Neither will the best solution be found in lower marginal income-tax rates, cuts in federal discretionary spending, and a balanced budget, whatever the benefits of such policies may be.
Instead, creative, genuinely conservative policies should be proposed and employed — policies that empower individuals, support their aspirations, increase their independence, help them to earn their own success, and promote virtue through work and personal responsibility.
Government should not sit idly by and watch the employment crisis. Indeed, government at every level has a central role to play in the effort to get the unemployed working again, and conservative policy solutions offer the prospect of success. It is time for conservatives to recognize this, and get to work.
http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/a-jobs-agenda-for-the-right