This I Believe

If there’s a bright side to Team Democracy’s leadership vacuum, maybe it’s this: it forces each of us to decide, all alone in the dark, what we believe. 

Here’s where I come out:

I don’t just believe in private enterprise. I love it. 

I love business in the same way I love sports. I love the strategizing, the preparation, the competition. I love how sheer grit can prevail over raw talent—and that the reverse is true, too. And, in a world shot through with bias, I love-love-LOVE that there’s a scoreboard: cold, hard stats that speak for themselves.

Zooming out, I love the tidal force of the market: how it surfaces needs, reveals desires, dictates pricing, and demands relentless improvement.

Peacenik that I am, I also love that economic interdependence curbs conflict: people tend to find ways to get along with co-workers and trading partners.

I love all this about private enterprise—and yet I also believe with all my heart that business must be regulated. Companies can serve the greater good: for example, the more businesses there are, the more choices exist for consumers and job seekers. But history has shown us: unbridled profit-seeking harms the planet and benefits only a powerful few. 

I understand opposing specific regulations that are ineffective or outdated, but I can’t get on board with free market purists. ::Waves to Silicon Valley, which seems to be getting more libertarian by the day:: In fact, I’d go so far as to say this: if you aim to build a business without losing your humanity, you should want guardrails.  

I’m nearly done, but here comes the part that makes me super-unpopular at the average Chamber of Commerce meeting. While I think the world of business should be like the world of sports—with clear rules but also: winners and losers—I think society more broadly should not be so Darwinian. 

We are ::checks the news:: still a wealthy country. As such, we should strive to create as level a playing field as possible—and to take good care of one another, at least at some basic level. In this spirit, I believe we should have:

• Universal healthcare. Something as vital as healthcare shouldn’t depend on employment, especially with AI likely to disrupt the labor market like nothing before.
• Universal daycare. Those who have the means and desire to serve as full-time caregivers can always do so, but public options, for both childcare and eldercare, would relieve two of the biggest stressors on many working-age people.
• Lifelong learning for adults. Again, see: AI.

I know this all sounds very costly, and that we already have an alarming budget deficit. (As the ever-vivid Scott Galloway recently explained on one of his many podcasts: If the U.S. were a family, the parents would be bringing in $50K a year, spending $70K, and leaving a $350K debt to their kids.) 

Funding these initiatives would require significant tax reform. It would also require battling entrenched interests, tooth and nail. But we could do it. At the very least, it’s no crazier—and no more expensive—than heading to Mars.

Now, you. What are your priorities? What do you believe? 

I’m all ears,
Kate