Who cares about upward mobility in America? Eric Cantor, that's who

Ryan Streeter
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I’ve pointed out before that upward mobility is a theme that Republicans don’t usually do a very good job promoting. Mitch Daniels and Paul Ryan are the only two Republicans who spend any time talking and thinking the topic.

The presidential candidates don’t talk about the issue, either, as I’ve also recently written. Matthew Continetti has admonished presidential candidates for their silence on the matter, especially since within their ranks there are plenty of good upward mobility stories.

Finally, today, there is another voice in the mix: Eric Cantor. The majority leader said today on Fox News Sunday that Republicans are “about income mobility and that's what we should be focused on to take care of the income disparity in this country.”  Cantor was obviously trying to show that Republicans sympathize with some cross-section of the Occupy Wall Street  protestors’ concerns. But he also went out of his way to make the important point that moving upward is something that goes hand-in-hand with America’s most basic self-perception. Others should learn from his example today.

The reason it’s important to talk about upward mobility is threefold:

Because ordinary people don’t care about GDP. Most of our discussions about “growth” terminate in chatter about that good old abstraction, per capita GDP – or just plain old GDP. But if the returns to productivity are enjoyed by a small group of people while everyone else is stuck, then what good is GDP?

Because ordinary people don’t care about just jobs. If the only jobs around essentially promise flat wages for years to come, you’ll find a lot of societal restiveness. Mobility assumes that vocation is more than just a job. It’s a way of life, made possible by an opportunity environment. Opportunity and mobility go together. Jobs and mobility don’t always.

Because people care about more than taxes, regulations, and government spending. Given how candidates talk, you wouldn’t know this. They all have a line on taxes, regulations, and government spending. But people want to get ahead, so they have to be sure that what political leaders and candidates are saying about these other topics will help them do that. So far, our political class hasn't done a good job of connecting their policies to these concerns. How does "broadening the base" or "lowering the corporate tax rate," for instance, promise upward mobility? It's as if presidential candidates and most congressional leaders haven't even thought about this.

People feel stuck. They feel anxious. They feel as though opportunity is shrinking. They want to know that aspiration will be rewarded by a society rich in opportunity and a chance to move up life’s ladder.

It would be nice if instead of 59 point plans or 9-9-9 plans, someone would lay out a plan based on the idea that upward mobility is something for everyone America. Cantor's remarks yesterday were at least a gentle nudge in that direction. Now let's see if he and his colleagues can turn it into a common theme.

Comments

[Mike Kramer]

This is the uncomfortable truth neither the GOP candidates nor Obama talk about. This narrative lacks a candidate in this race.
Perhaps it is time to convene a roundtable and elicit a platform for a free market conservative populist narrative and see if some of the ideas get picked up. It would be nice to see in one post a discussion again about a pro family, pro small business
tax reform agenda, a health care strategy, entitlement reform, fixing the foreclosure and liquidity crisis, tackling education inflation within an apsirational agenda message.