About the Question: Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?
No single question has proved to be as durable in modern American political history as the one posed by President Ronald Reagan in his 1980 debate vs then President Jimmy Carter: “Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?” It seems like a simple question to evaluate a presidency, yet should that be the defining question of our times?
While well phrased, Reagan’s question puts the emphasis on what’s happened over a few years over a much longer future. Sacrificing long-term gains for short-term profits is an often tempting, terrible choice that people and nations make. The upsides are attractive and immediate but wishful thinking that there may not be a price to pay often turns out to be just that: Wishful thinking. When we trade long-term bond investments to improve our short-term wealth and buy a fancy car, we can feel good, but without a doubt we are mortgaging our future for the present. When we break long-term bonds with our allies for today’s attractions, we trade off the accrued lifelong benefits of such relationships, such as help in times of our need. When we compromise core principles that serve us well for short-term advantages, we concede a whole lot more than meets the eye.
The impulse of politicians to sacrifice long-term well-being for immediate gains is neither new nor restricted to the US. Yet the pace at which the US is rapidly trading off various long-term assets is alarming.
The current, large US budget deficit is certainly not the result of one government or one policy, but passing the biggest tax cuts has ballooned our deficit to record levels. Cutting short-term spending mostly by restricting health benefits for the poor is not a viable solution. A lack of benefits will not mean people won’t get sick. They will miss routine care and arrive at emergency rooms for more expensive care.
The US is but one nation on the planet. Cutting our assistance to the poorest nations — be it to feed the starving, to educate, or to eradicate infectious diseases — endangering the wellbeing of their citizens will break the bonds developed over decades. Steep tariffs on goods we cannot or are unwilling to produce, hurting the livelihoods of people here and everywhere will show only that we don’t care. There may be temporary monetary gains but breaking bonds with nations will come at a price with interest at an unspecified time in the future. It is a connected world after all. The bonds we break are not just bonds between nations but bonds between our peoples.
When we abandon basic principles — our obligations to the health of the people and the planet, such as regulations to keep our air and water clean and policies to minimize earth-warming emissions — polluting industries may see profits as might we the people who hold their stocks. But there will be irreparable long-term costs: Intense fires, floods, hurricanes, and days with intemperate weather, all lasting longer and becoming more frequent. When we abandon principles of democracy and thwart the will of the people through ever more gerrymandering, our institutions will become more diminished and less accountable.
It is possible that many of us will be better off in four years financially or otherwise. Unfortunately, it’s simultaneously possible that the future is compromised in ways that are unfixable. The attractiveness of short-term profits risking potential long-term disasters is obvious for the political class because it’s about getting elected and re-elected here and now. The question is whether we will be shortsighted as well: Will we only ask about four years or also about our children and the planet’s long-term future?
Happy Independence Day to the many Indian readers!
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