Politics and Capital

This book is about good government, especially an ethical and fair government and constitution. It has five key ideas. Understanding these ideas is critical to addressing the problems besetting the American political and economic systems. First, the book proposes the new principle of distributive autonomy to guarantee first-order rights. The principle sharply contrasts with modern, individualistic libertarian ideas. Good governance must be centrally concerned with the distribution of freedom for all. If your own autonomy matters, so does everyone else’s. Valuing the autonomy of others is authentic autonomy. A core aspect of ethical governance must value the autonomy of everyone. Second, the book demonstrates how the campaign finance cases violate distributive autonomy and completely subvert the American system of government. Third, the book deploys Thomas Piketty’s data to correlate the campaign finance cases with the dramatic rise in wealth and particularly income inequality in the United States. Fourth, the book demonstrates that the distorted allocation of income has adversely affected the centrally important demand curve of the American economy, which may be helping to drive economic stagnation and the debt overhang. Fifth, the book concludes that political freedom, in the sense of distributive autonomy, is necessary for participatory democracy and that participatory democracy may be a necessary condition to sustain long-term, prosperous capitalism.