As conservatives confront avowedly socialist policies from Democrats such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., we should be guided by a philosophy of diametric reciprocity. Namely, for each socialist policy, we should re-frame the issue and offer a conservative alternative.
We must sell our ideas as moral narratives. We must do so, because socialists such as Ocasio-Cortez, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., are masters at framing their ideas as self-evidently beneficial. Consider how we might respond better.
When socialists talk about making the wealthy “pay their fair share,” conservatives should talk about “a fair deal” in taxation. We should note the fact that massive marginal tax rates on high earners recently led to economic disaster in France. We can explain that in 2019, with capital being highly mobile, high taxes on wealthier taxpayers will just make them disappear, along with their revenue.
We should be unafraid to say not only that government is less efficient than the private sector in allocating societal capital, but also that it’s downright unfair to expropriate private property — and that even high-income earners have rights under our Constitution.
We should advance our own policies: of progressive, but low income tax rates matched to robust enforcement; of the sufficiency of a tax system in which the top 10 percent of income taxpayers provide more than 69 percent of total income tax revenue. We should argue in favor of a fair tax system that does more to make hard work pay for lower earners. And we should argue for a system that facilitates business growth alongside good new jobs.
Where Democrats talk about the “minimum wage,” we should talk building a society of “maximum opportunity.” We need to explain how minimum wages decrease opportunity by pricing the least-skilled workers out of the workplace, simultaneously robbing them of the chance to gain the skills to earn more. Instead, we need to advance education reform that expands access to charter schools and improves outcomes in public schools. We need to make it easier for students to learn valuable skills in technical colleges. We need to cultivate the idea that the best way to get ahead is not a government minimum price on labor, or a generous handout, but a good job that creates value. We need to talk about why, ultimately, most regulations cause more harm than help. We also need to explain why innovation is the key to our better future.
When Democrats talk about the “right to X government program” — whether that be in the field of healthcare, housing, a well-paying job, or immigration rights — conservatives should talk about “rights and responsibilities.” We would be playing to the basic conservative tenet that social responsibility includes personal responsibility. The idea that you should help yourself to get ahead even as government should endeavor to protect and improve your life. This is the way to earn honest favor with communities, such as the Hispanic-American community, that value cultures of hard work.
When socialists talk about “social justice,” we should talk about building a more “just society.” Governance in which the police are accountable, but where gangs such as MS-13 find no quarter. A society that decries racism while also admitting that it is the collapse of families and communities that drive much criminality. A society that values families, and marriage, but recognizes the value of gay adoption in providing more loving homes for children lost in foster care. A society that worries about abortion, but also the improved health of impoverished mothers, and that welcomes help toward that end from private organizations instead of trying to ban them. A society that welcomes immigrants, but insists upon strong borders and an orderly migration process.
In short, conservatives must retake the language game from socialists. But if we want policies that are moral and beneficial, we must first learn how to sell that society.
