"Our" Future

What might we achieve if we can agree with others on the nature of a good society?

It makes a difference how we look at things.  Despite what they say about clouds. “Both sides” and all that.

Take public policy.  What if we started a discussion of government and governing with a list of the basics for a good life, the underlying conditions that seem necessary for a life of dignity and fundamental wellbeing? 

I have my own list and want to share it.  You in all likelihood have yours.  Let’s compare. 

Access to good quality water and air?   

A safe living environment? 

Adequate food and shelter?

Quality medical care?

Access to employment during “working years?”

Quality education for one’s children? 

How much of this, with qualifications, can we agree on?  And once we do agree, and this may take serious open debate, how far can we, as a community, go in reaching these goals?

Now, we are well into a careful, thoughtful study of government, i.e. how much can we probably, collectively, achieve through public authority?  And at what cost?

Looking at the goals, the abstract good, changes our viewpoint, because we have put the values first and the “management” second. Government becomes one way we might move forward, to be considered in light of the failure of other approaches, but always with the central focus on what should be done.

And it is then not sensible to be casual about the task before us and the tools we bring to the job. Start with the goals and we won’t give up so easily, and we are forced to take the possibility of government seriously.

After all, we live amidst unprecedented advances in technology.  When we focus our resources to a common purpose (the Apollo Project), we achieve astonishing results. 

It seems to me that in one significant area government we can make a great deal of difference. To realize the goals we have stipulated, we will have to do not only more, but in new ways. Innovation is the application of that great legacy of scientific knowledge and experience we have amassed to specific projects.  Through public policies we can not only increase the rate of innovation, but because we are starting with the needs of society foremost, we can also influence the direction of innovation. 

Here, I suggest, is the nub of all this, the greatest challenge we currently face—and a true test of our resolve.  We can as a community, as a nation, as a partnership of nations, affect the direction of innovation and thus provide the next generation with what we agree is foundational for a good life—from the parched earth of the Sahel to the sinking islands of the South Pacific

Begin our discovery of government with idealized dreams, and we might end with concrete benefits for all.