Opinion: A middle-class manifesto

A former Clinton adviser says Democrats should go left on economic policy. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, June 22, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( [David Leonhardt] David Leonhardt Op-Ed Columnist “We have reached another turning point,” [Jake Sullivan, the former adviser to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, writes]( in a new essay in the journal Democracy. In the essay, Sullivan makes a more detailed version of an argument that you’ve heard [in this newsletter]( that Democrats should recognize the political center on economic policy has actually become the political left. Most voters want the government to respond aggressively to the stagnation of middle-class living standards. Americans, to be clear, are deeply divided on all sorts of issues — abortion, guns, immigration and race. And on some of those issues, public opinion is [significantly]( [more]( conservative than liberals often like to admit. But economic policy is different. A majority of Americans lean decidedly left on taxes, health care, the minimum wage and education funding. “Just as the Great Depression discredited the ideas of the pre-New Deal conservatives who fought for total laissez-faire outcomes in both the political branches and the courts, so the Great Recession once again laid bare the failure of our government to protect its citizens from unchecked market excess,” Sullivan writes. “There has been a delayed reaction this time around, but people have begun to see more clearly not only the flaws of our public and private institutions that contributed to the financial crisis, but also the decades of rising inequality and income stagnation that came before — and the uneven recovery that followed. Our politics are in the process of adjusting to this new reality.” Sullivan’s argument is significant because he isn’t on the left half of the Democratic Party. In an article about Sullivan’s role in Hillary Clinton’s campaign, [Vox once wrote]( “He won’t drag Clinton to the left.” But as Sullivan notes in the essay, the economic facts have changed in recent years, with [middle-class living standards stagnating]( even when the economy is growing. When reality changes, politics should change too. He discusses an array of potential solutions including child care; wage insurance; larger tax subsidies for low-income workers; a tax on wealth; more aggressive antitrust policy; and investments in struggling regions. The essay isn’t short. But if you’re interested in economic policy, I recommend setting aside the time to read it. “Democrats do not have to choose between shoring up the ‘vital center’ in American politics and supporting a more vigorous national response to our economic challenges,” Sullivan writes. “Both are possible. Indeed, both are necessary to defeating the long-term threat of Trumpism.” A new colleague. The Times announced a new Op-Ed columnist yesterday: Michelle Alexander, the legal scholar and author of “The New Jim Crow,” arguably the most significant book written about mass incarceration. Her column will start in September. Until then, I recommend [the book]( or [the documentary film “13th,”]( in which she is interviewed. I recently read “The New Jim Crow” as part of my reporting for [a column on Curtis Flowers]( a Mississippi man who appears to have been unjustly convicted of murder, and I’m really excited that Michelle is joining our pages. The full Opinion report from The Times follows, including [Bret Stephens]( making the conservative case for more immigration. (For the conservative case against more immigration, try [Ross Douthat]( From Our Columnists Op-Ed Columnist [Our Real Immigration Problem]( By BRET STEPHENS America could use some more immigrants. Make that a lot more. Op-Ed Columnist [Return of the Blood Libel]( By PAUL KRUGMAN There’s no immigration crisis, just a hatred crisis. Op-Ed Columnist [They Really Don’t Care About Migrant Families]( By MICHELLE GOLDBERG The Trump administration multiplies malevolence with incompetence. Op-Ed Columnist [The Fourth Great Awakening]( By DAVID BROOKS Parable-based religion has receded from the public square, replaced by heroic myth, and the competitive virtues it celebrates. Sunday Review [The Last of the Tiger Parents]( By RYAN PARK My daughters might someday bring home grades that my father would have regarded as failures. If so, I embrace the decline. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Trickle Down Trumpsters and the Debasement of Language]( By TIMOTHY EGAN Constant repetition of the lie makes truth meaningless. Say a falsehood over and over and it takes on the shape of reality. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [How Did We Get to the Savagery of ‘Tender Age’ Shelters?]( By WILL WILKINSON A “border security” machine was handed over to a cruel, indecent president. We must smash the machine. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [The Example of Charles Krauthammer]( By PETER WEHNER He never let his strong convictions on some matters become certainty in all matters. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [How Britain Lost Its Power of Seduction]( By AATISH TASEER I find myself composing an elegy for that brief interregnum when Britain had ceased to rule but was nonetheless dazzlingly cosmopolitan. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Why Mexico Is Swinging Left]( By IOAN GRILLO The presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador is offering struggling people hope. Saudi Arabia Lifts Its Driving Ban [Saudi Women Can Drive Now. Will That Hurt Saudi Women?]( By HALA ALDOSARI Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s changes are aimed at making women good workers and consumers, while leaving them second-class citizens. In Case You Missed It [The Prince Who Would Remake the World]( By ROGER COHEN In Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Arabia, women will take the wheel. How much is really changing? [G.O.P. Wants Hungry Kids to Fund Tax Cuts]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD After raising the deficit, Republicans want stricter limits on food stamps. LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up [here](. ADVERTISEMENT More in Opinion [Congress Doesn’t Seem to Know Its Own Strength]( By GREG WEINER Complicit in their own subservience, legislators have enabled President Trump’s callous devastation of families. [When the Robot Doesn’t See Dark Skin]( By JOY BUOLAMWINI New technology using artificial intelligence is meant to take race and gender bias out of hiring, but it could backfire. [Could Southern Baptists Actually Become Feminists?]( By MARGARET BENDROTH The religious institution made history silencing Paige Patterson — but it has been good at evading change, especially in regard to women. [A Peace Best Delayed]( By BRONWYN BRUTON Eritrea, Ethiopia’s longtime foe, may now be the least of its problems. [What 7 Creepy Patents Reveal About Facebook]( By SAHIL CHINOY A review of the company’s patents indicates Facebook’s commitment to collecting and exploiting detailed personal information. [Washington State Should Stop Blocking Planned Coal Export Terminal]( By TIM FOX Montana’s attorney general says his state will lose tax revenue and high-wage jobs if it can’t increase coal shipments to Asian markets. [Why Competition Won’t Bring Down Drug Prices]( By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL Companies are doing very good business by selling similar drugs at high prices. Why should they stop? [Supreme Court’s Wayfair Decision Will Hurt Online Shopping]( By JESSICA MELUGIN Allowing states to collect sales tax from online companies based outside their borders is taxation without representation. [We Reimagined Trump’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ as a 1940s Propaganda Film]( By TAIGE JENSEN, LEAH VARJACQUES AND JAPHET WEEKS A U.S. government film from 1943 justifying the detention of Japanese-Americans in internment camps has new relevance in light of the president’s immigration policies. [How Should Europe Respond to Trump’s Bullying?]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD Hurling insults back at him won’t be enough. SIGN UP FOR OUR WORLD CUP NEWSLETTER Read [arguments and opinions]( on the social, political and economic issues around the World Cup, for football buffs and fair-weather fans alike. ADVERTISEMENT Letters [How America Treats Immigrant Families]( Readers discuss the president’s executive order and U.S. immigration policies, one viewing them as “Orwellian” and another saying they are too lax. HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [leonhardt@nytimes.com](mailto:leonhardt@nytimes.com?subject=Opinion%20Today%20Newsletter%20Feedback). FOLLOW OPINION [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nytopinion]( [Pinterest] [Pinterest]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2018 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018