Which issues are important (to me)?
I sometimes say that inequality is not one of the top issues facing America. Several commenters asked me what I thought were the top issues. I find it hard to rank issues as to their relative importance, but as of today I’d say there are 4 issues that I regard as being of primary importance to America. (BTW, I care much more about foreign issues.) I’ll put my own policy views in parentheses:
Most important issues (no particular order):
1. US Military intervention (I’m mostly against it)
2. Immigration (more, more, more)
3. War on Drugs (end it, let out 400,000 prisoners)
4. Right to Die (I’m for it, read Scott Alexander if you don’t think it’s important.)
Second level issues, still very important:
1. Abortion (pro-choice)
2. Health care (deregulate it, plus vouchers for the poor)
3. Arms control (favor reduction in nuclear stockpiles, ideally global elimination)
4. Existential risk (plan for it, don’t know enough to say how)
Third tier, still very important issues:
1. Military budget (cut in half)
2. Monetary policy (NGDPLT)
3. Prostitution (legalize it)
4. Education (universal vouchers, with a dramatic reduction in total spending)
5. Occupational licensing (end it, ALL of it)
6. Global warming (carbon tax, geoengineering as last resort)
7. Tax reform (progressive consumption tax)
8. Economic Inequality (low wage subsidies, end cigarette taxes)
9. War on terror (downgrade to skirmish on terror)
10. Intellectual property rights (weaken protection)
11. Lawsuits (make it easier to sign away your right to sue)
Fourth tier, but still somewhat important:
1. International trade barriers (end them)
2. Domestic trade barriers (car dealers, taxis, etc.—end them.)
3. Financial system (stop encouraging lending)
4. Land use (allow greater density)
5. Farming (end farm subsidies)
6. Water (use market prices)
7. Eminent domain (for infrastructure, not condos)
8. Firefighting (Privatize, and close 1/2 of fire stations)
9. High speed rail (Build the Texas proposal, reject the California project.)
10. $7.25 Minimum wage (against it, and regarding the $15 nation-wide proposal, bump up to a higher tier of importance)
Other issues:
1. Dueling (Too young to have a useful opinion)
2. Microaggression (Too old to have a useful opinion.)
3. Affirmative consent (Too old to have a useful opinion.)
4. Age of consent (How should I know? I came of age during the (dissolute) 1970s, and went on my first date as a junior in college.)
I used a utilitarian criterion. On another day, I’d put many of these in totally different categories, but that’s how I feel today. On many of the key issues I’m not really with either party, but perhaps lean a bit Dem on the top issues. I vote libertarian. I left out some issues like feminism, racial equality, gay rights, etc., because it’s hard to pin down the specific public policy issues that are relevant today. Thus instead of feminism I have abortion and prostitution, issues that especially impact women. Obviously I support the gains that various groups have made over time in achieving greater respect and legal rights. I suspect that animal rights should be high on the list, but don’t know much about the issue.
PS. The importance of an issue reflects the interaction if its intrinsic importance, and the plausibility of changing the outcome with different public policies.
PPS. Regarding inequality, commenter Justin D recently said:
And why concede that income inequality is an issue worth thinking about at all? Shouldn’t the real concern be whether people have basic needs? People are unequal in an enormous variety of ways – attractiveness, health, intelligence, confidence, etc., and some of these are more important than income. I’d gladly trade places with a person earning 20% of my income but in perfect health.
I mostly agree with that, especially the final sentence. But I can’t quite concede that economic inequality is not a problem worth thinking about, even if other types of inequality are far more damaging. Many of those can’t be addressed (easily) by public policy. Yes, poverty in the US is a modest problem (especially compared to other countries, and other periods of history) but it is still a problem. In contrast, forcing Larry Ellison to downshift from a 500-foot yacht to a 400-foot yacht is an utterly trivial problem. If we can solve a small problem by creating another utterly trivial problem—then do it! In addition, addressing the inequality issue makes it easier to promote market friendly reforms elsewhere.