On first-principles politics

Let's stop arguing ‘more vs. less.’ Start here instead.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris took a lot of flak last year, deservedly so, for using the same convoluted phrasing in all her speeches: “what can be, unburdened by what has been.”

It’s a little too pseudo-intellectual for my tastes, but the sentiment honestly isn’t half bad.

Too often, our debates start on a slider: more Medicaid or less, bigger child tax credit or smaller, fund day cares directly or not at all. When the argument is only “more vs. less,” it’s easy to caricature the other side and miss the point altogether.

There’s an older habit worth recovering: Start with purpose. Philosophers call it telos or first principles. In Catholic circles, it shows up as the natural law. In plain language, it’s a simple question. What is this for?

For example, what is the role of government-paid health insurance? Or is the government’s priority actually to encourage day care use at all?

Those questions are harder to argue on TV. They also tend to produce better policy.

That’s the frame I bro…