I think we can all agree that every issue has economic implications. We can talk about votes being counted, we can talk about NSA wiretapping, we can talk about lobbyists controlling the legislative agenda, we can talk about opportunists "never forgetting the lesson of 9/11," we can talk about abuse of executive privilege, but to me it's imperative to appreciate the simultaneous erosion of both democracy and capitalism. Incrementally, the impact may be immeasurable, but the accrual will eventually reach a critical threshold that is irreversible. I am concerned that the average voter perceives politics as esoteric or academic, having negligible impact on daily life. Ultimately, the issue is sustainability.
Republicans have done a pretty fair job of casting themselves as "the pro-business party", and Democrats are widely perceived as socialists. I hear very little talk of corporate welfare these days. Perhaps Democrats need a more effective catch phrase. I think it would be beneficial for Dems to demonstrate the relationship between free society/open markets and future prospects for maintaining our standard of living and position as a world leader. Do we want our children to be well educated as an end in itself (fine if jr. has a trust fund), or do we want them to have a choice to pursue education as a means to economic prosperity? Does separation of church and state pertain exclusively to religious freedom, or does it also facilitate scientific discovery and technological advancement to potentially improve living standards (measured in hours in front of a TV)? Every issue has economic implications. America has been revered largely because we have an open society, where market participants historically have been reasonably assured that their activities will be unencumbered by corruption. We don't have to look very far to see that political corruption is burdensome and corrosive to an economy. Investors are active globally and using real-time information to make decisions about where to put their capital. A stable government is an essential prerequisite for a thriving market, and an open, democratic government would seem to have the market advantage of being the most sustainable. I say, a fusion of "it's the economy, stupid" with "it's the Constitution, stupid" (econstitution?)is in order. thoughts?