While U.S. fiddles, China gains

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This is what Indiana governor Mitch Daniels tried to warn conservatives about in a recent speech. If you want to accomplish anything wise (i.e., difficult) in this country, you need a large coalition of support; your base plus some independents is not enough.

In The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, Benjamin Friedman argues persuasively that economic growth correlates with a societal willingness to support progressive changes, ranging from the limited work week or minimum wage to Social Security, student aid, Medicare, or Medicaid. Progressives, unhappy about the upsurge in animosity toward immigrants and the attempted gutting of the social safety net, surprisingly could find some common ground with conservatives on job-creation initiatives.

To a degree, leaders go where voters push them, and we’re pushing our leaders into irrationality.

As our leaders take their recess break, they might host a few dinner parties where they put Democratic and Republican constituents at the same tables for a conversation about real economic growth. That way, perhaps we’ll learn once again how to talk to each other, rather than past each other.

We should tell them that we’re ready for them to stop fiddling and start governing.

Nick Capo, an associate professor of English at Illinois College, writes as a public scholar and private citizen.