October 21, 2020

Open letter: In 2020, please vote a straight Democratic ticket

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Americans of different policy preferences are united in realizing: Trump must go. His dishonesty, incompetence and meanness make him unfit to lead any country. His contempt for limits on his power make him especially unfit for America.

But ousting Trump is not enough; Republican policies and legislators must go too. It’s not just that Republicans have enabled Trump for too long, or that they echo some of his vices, such as science denial, voter suppression, or general corruption. Beyond all that, REPUBLICANS ARE BAD FOR THE ECONOMY. I know it’s common to assume otherwise – but any such assumption is 30+ years out of date.

The American economy has always been driven by CREATION – of companies, inventions, science, arts, transportation systems, business concepts, political concepts and more. Factors like geography helped too – we were blessed to avoid the worst destruction of two world wars – but that’s mainly in the past. What happens in our economy, for the most part, is whatever the people in it do.

And Democrats’ policies are best for bringing us and supporting creative, smart, hard-working, risk-taking people. That’s what one gets from immigration. That’s what one gets from investing in education and research. That’s what one gets from backstopping people’s health care so they’re not afraid to change jobs. It’s not what one gets from mindlessly slashing services.

I have worked closely with some of the world’s great entrepreneurs, including the founders of Microsoft, Oracle, and Salesforce, and some of the great venture investors as well. I know many more in the next tiers down. None, so far as I can tell, would have done anything different if personal or income taxes had been at some other rate. And no policy that Joe Biden or even Elizabeth Warren has suggested would have done anything to slow those entrepreneurs down. (That’s less true of Bernie Sanders – but he lost the nomination, soundly, twice.)

I argued these points in more detail at http://www.monashreport.com/2020/10/15/democrats-are-much-better-for-the-economy-than-republicans-and-this-is-unlikely-to-soon-change/ and http://www.monashreport.com/2020/10/15/why-democrats-are-better-for-the-economy-than-republicans/ In particular, I explained why the central myth of Republican economics – that giving money to the rich and powerful “makes more capital available for productive uses” – simply isn’t true. And when that myth is stripped away, then obsessing about taxes becomes little more than a manifestation of personal greed.

In the 2020s, we’ll need a government that supports our workers, rebuilds our infrastructure, protects democracy … and regains our trust. The science-denying, economics-denying Republicans aren’t likely to lead that. Please vote a straight Democratic ticket this year. And please ask everybody you know to vote one too.

Thank you, and let’s rebuild our country’s greatness.

Best regards,

Curt Monash

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