Opinion Front: A long-term jobs solution

Unfortunately, hyper-partisan environments do not lend themselves well to passing of great legislation. The Tea Party has been extremely successful in one facet of politics: moving the Overton Window of Political Possibilities farther right.

The Overton Window is a political science theory that describes the spectrum of acceptable public policy. Outside of that spectrum exist policies too extreme to be considered. The key point of the Overton Window theory is the spectrum is not static; it is receptive to the ebbs and flows of political discourse.

By proposing extremely far right policies, the Tea Party has not been able to necessarily pass its optimal legislation, but it has influenced the outcome of the legislation by dragging it farther right.

This Overton Window effect is why we won’t have any great jobs legislation from the President. A bill that consists equally of tax cuts cannot truly meet the needs of our limping economy.

Instead of Obama’s good (but not great) jobs plan, I propose my own. First, the plan will be paid for by a drastic overhaul of the tax system that would make it simpler but not flatter. The reforms (similar to those floated by both Republicans and the President) would eliminate nearly all deductions, credits and exemptions for individuals and corporations. That would allow all rates to be lowered while still raising more revenue.

The rate for the wealthiest Americans would go down very slightly but not proportionally to the lower brackets. The revenue raised from tax reform would pay for research and development in the public sector through the creation of a new agency.

The agency would supersede the largest public research and development programs of the federal agencies (exempting the most secretive of defense). The purpose of the agency would be to prioritize public R&D spending toward those projects that would have the highest rewards for not a single agency or department, but would benefit America as a whole.

R&D plays a large part in moving the economy forward, and my plan could put Americans back to work.

­— cdbabcoc@indiana.edu