43rd Edition
Let’s set aside for a moment all the following criteria that help determine how people might vote in the upcoming presidential election. Humor me and give it a try for a few minutes. Sweep aside individual personality and temperament, character or lack thereof, social issues, irrational fears, and campaign hyperbole. Focus only on policy. Specifically, policy related to these areas: national defense and America’s optimal role in global affairs, The economy along with wealth creation & distribution, and finally rightsizing and holding the government accountable for promoting the general welfare and human flourishing. Why would anyone want to do this? Because over the long run, policy is significantly more important to our way of life and to our country than any of the aforementioned criteria. To be clear, all of the criteria are important, how could a candidate’s temperament and character not be? But policy, through legislation, administrative rules and regulations and executive orders have a much deeper and broader impact on our economy and way of life.
Policy will likely determine whether our immediate future is characterized by global peace or global confrontation. Without a strong presence by the United States, bad actors will continue to influence world affairs and further destabilize hot-spot regions in the Mid East, Eastern Europe, and Asia. Appeasement has never been a successful foreign policy. Moreover, a weak U.S. makes the world less safe.
From an economic perspective it is policy that creates incentives or disincentives for entrepreneurship and innovation. Policy can be the lifeblood of future growth or the death knell for risk taking and new business formation. Policies that pick winners and losers tend to be counterproductive in the long run. Virtually all policies have unintended consequences, a fact that all policy makers should strive to remember.
As the federal government and related agencies continue to expand, the prospects for long-term economic growth wane. Finding the right balance is not easy, but try we must, to create policies that incentivize entrepreneurship while distributing wealth and business success more broadly and fairly. Within this dynamic, is the perpetual call for business leaders to embrace servant leadership and control the ever-present temptation toward power and greed.
I hope to share more thoughts about policy as the election approaches. In the meantime, there is a comprehensive policy manual called 2025 – The Mandate for Leadership, produced by the Heritage Foundation along with hundreds of experts in various fields. It’s an amazing book and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to think about policy, especially in the three critical areas highlighted above.
Keep in mind that policy needs to be adaptable because we live in a dynamic world. It needs to be continually debated and revised as circumstances and goals change. Policy is never written in stone, yet it needs to be well researched and tested, and held accountable for consequences, intended and unintended. It is inherently complicated and imperfect. Nevertheless it matters. It matters huge.
So, having said all this, here is a policy checklist should you feel inclined to immerse yourself in research and evaluation of potential policies proposed by the respective candidates…
1. Be skeptical of policies that cost a lot in the near term only to promise benefits or cost savings in the long term.
2. Be skeptical of policies that call for additional funds to support the same policies that failed to produce the desired results in the past. The importance of accountability cannot be overstated.
3. Be skeptical of policies that rely on forcing key participants to do what policy advocates want them to do. Think China or businesses in general, who are always adapting strategies based on new laws and regulations.
4. Favor policies that promote economic growth over government dependency. The goal is equal opportunity. Claims that policy will produce equal outcomes are simply lies.
5. Favor policies that reward and encourage entrepreneurship over entrenched oligopolies and crony capitalism. The market and economic forces should determine winners and losers, not the government.
6. Favor policies that strengthen families and important institutions for community welfare and human flourishing. Doing so will help individuals and communities work together for the benefit of all. Doing the opposite will further divide and polarize our country to the detriment of all.
7. Favor policies that serve others rather than granting more power to the powerful.
In any event, good luck as you become a policy wonk. Don’t shy away from it. Someone has to do it.
Please help me grow my readership by forwarding this to a friend(s). In the meantime, say tuned for my next newsletter. Thanks
Michael Kayes
*These views are my personal opinions and are not the viewpoints of any company or organization.