It’s the Ideas that Matter in Public Policy

Good ideas lead to good policies, and good policies lead to good outcomes.

But how do you know if something is a good idea?

Human beings have an omnipotent, omniscient ally to help them figure out the answer to that question: Reality. Reality is an unyielding, unchanging task master. Demanding in its expectations, it may let you slide by for a bit, but at some point, if you ignore or defy it, Reality makes itself known. Think of the old Roadrunner cartoon when Wile E. Coyote runs off the edge of a cliff. For a moment, his legs churn in midair, and then Reality, in the form of gravity, asserts itself and ol’ Wile E. predictably hits the ground shortly thereafter.

It is easy to see the manifestations of physical laws, so it’s an easy example, but every aspect of our existence on this earth takes place in the physical world. WE are physically existing entities, and we have no greater ability to escape Reality than a cartoon coyote does. Mass, and the gravity it creates, have a certain nature. Human beings also have a certain nature. We exist as something. A specific type of creature with specific, unalterable attributes.

The question behind the question is: what principles will guide us to the right ideas? The right ideas are ideas that work; that jibe with human nature and create the opportunity not only to survive, but to truly flourish to the greatest extent of our abilities. If Wile E.—or you and I—want to flourish, a good first step is to not run off that cliff, i.e., to obey the dictates of Reality.

What is our nature? Human beings, by their nature, must be free to take action to improve their lives. This is obviously true (“true” means consistent with Reality). Food, clothing, and shelter, let alone iPhones, cars, and computers, don’t just fall out of the sky. Human beings must apply reason to evaluate and understand how Reality works, and then take self-interested, goal-directed action to satisfy their needs and achieve their objectives.

Alone on a desert isle, this is clear. In a vast society, it can get muddled but remains no less true. The only difference in a society of millions versus alone on an island is the essential requirement of respecting the equal rights of others to do the same, because they have the same nature as you. Without that respect, you disrespect Reality, and tyranny and chaos at the personal and social level are the result because Reality is being ignored.

Human freedom means the right of every individual to their individual liberty. That is the fundamental principle from which all other ideas must flow, if we are to have “good” ideas that work.

It’s no surprise the United States has been an extraordinary success. It was based on human beings living in a way that jibes with Reality; that reflects the needs of our nature—freedom to act in our self-interest, while respecting the right of others to do the same. The American declaration of Independence lays out the formula for that success. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Your Life belongs to you, so you have the right and the need to live in political Liberty, and work for those things you believe, in your own independent mind and judgement, are most likely to achieve your safety and security, your self-interest, your Happiness.

The idea that flowed from these principles was a civil society based on the public policy of the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution sought to put significant limits on the power of government to a narrow list of specific and enumerated powers and added further clear proscriptions against government interference in the life of the individual with the first ten amendments to the Constitution known as the Bill of Rights.

The result was extraordinary.  Even with its flaws and imperfect, unequal freedom, the mere presence of basic, wide-spread freedom, protected by property rights, allowed a ragtag collection of former British colonies to experience an explosion of growth, wealth, and opportunity such as the world had never seen, ultimately becoming the world’s greatest “super-power.” With their freedom protected, people did what comes naturally to them, they got up in the morning and worked hard to build a better life for themselves and their families. In the process, they built the most successful society in history. Imagine living in a socialist country that dictates all your major choices, your profession, where and how you can live, and so on. The idea of improving your life isn’t even an idea. Your existence is one of trying to maneuver in the system and against your fellow man simply to survive.

Freedom, and its only socio-political manifestation, capitalism, protects the ability of the individual to apply him or herself and flourish to the best of their ability. Any idea that violates that principle of individual liberty, regardless of the label on the idea—socialism, fascism, progressivism, communism—reduces the individual to be less than human, because it takes away the requirements for their full humanity.

Morality serves the purpose of figuring out what is in our best self-interest. Virtues such as reason, productive work, and rationality (acknowledging Reality) come to be embraced because our nature demands them and benefits from them. We must use them to figure out what will benefit our lives or endanger them.

There is no morality without freedom. Freedom, liberty, capitalism, these are the principles and ideas that reflect our ideal nature. These are the only moral ideals that align with Reality and make it possible for true human prosperity and flourishing. There are no alternatives, because Reality is unyielding and unchanging.

It’s the ideas that matter, and those ideas require the right principles to be able to find them.

Human beings must be free. That is, and always will be, the starting point.