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ELECTION 2020- THE OVAL OFFICE
SocialSecuritywassetupin 1935 and
theretirementagesetat65,lifeexpec-
tancywas61;it is now79.)Ofcourse,the
politicsofthisareexplosive.But,again,
copywhathasworkedelsewhere—andset
upanindependentcommissioncharged
withreformingtheentitlementsystem,
withitsfinalproposalsubjecttoa straight
congressionalyesornovote.Swedendid
thisinthe1990s,bringingitsentitlement
systemintobalance:AllSwedesstillget
pensions,buttheydon’tautomatically
increaseregardlessof the country’s abil-
ity to afford them.- A fairer health-care system
TheU.S.spendsabout18%ofitsgross
domesticproductonhealthcare,far
more thanany other country, while
leaving1 in5 non-elderlypeopleunin-
sured.Andnomatterhowmuchthe
healthindustryhowlsaboutthethreat
ofsocializedmedicine,there’snothing
free-marketabouta systemthatspends
proportionatelymorepublicmoneyon
healththan“socialist”Sweden(which,
likejustabouteveryrichcountry,hasa
healthierpopulationthanAmerica).
Lookaroundtheworld.Thereis no
perfecthealthsystem,butmostoffer
bettervalueforthemoney.BillLincoln
coulddrawonGermany,wherehealth
insuranceis compulsory,with90%ofthe
populationusingsubsidizedpublicinsur-
anceandtherichest10thstayingprivate.
OronCanada,wherethesingle-payer
systemwithset feesforprocedures
reducesthepaperworkfromdoctors
being“innetwork”or“outofnetwork”
andsoon—andalsohascheapermedi-
cines.OronSingapore,wherea Central
ProvidentFundprovidescareforallbut
alsodemandsthateverybodypaysa
smallfeewhentheyvisittheirprimary
providertodiscouragetheunnecessary
visitsthatplague“all-you-can-eatbuf-
fet”public-healthsystemslike Britain’s
NationalHealthService.
HoweverBillLincolnputhissystem
together,it wouldcombinethreefea-
tures.It wouldguaranteeeveryAmerican
a certainstandardoffreecare,paidfor
bythegovernmentbutprovidedatboth
publicandprivatehospitals.Itwould
includea hypothecatedhealth-caretaxso
eachAmericancouldseehowmuchthe
public system costs on their (enormouslyshorter)income-taxreturn.Andit would
allow Americans a small tax break,
cappedat,say,$500,forprivatehealth
insurance.Thisperkwouldbepersonal
andportable,nottheconvolutedcor-
porateversion(introducedbyaccident
duringWorldWarII todealwithtempo-
rarylaborshortages).Therewouldbe
incentivestostayhealthyandgetvacci-
nated,anda morevigorouspublichealth
policy,includingtaxesonsugartotackle
theepidemicofobesity.Privatemedi-
cinewouldsurvive,asit does in Canada,
Germany, and Singapore.- Educate our masters
BillLincolnwouldbeparticularlystruck
byhowfartheWesthasfallenbehindin
education.TheoriginalLincolnlaidthe
foundationsofAmerica’sstateuniver-
sitysystemwithhisland-grantcolleges.
Gladstonebelievedintheimportanceof
“educatingourmasters”fortheemerg-
ingdemocraticsociety.AsBillLincoln
thumbedthroughthe PISAteststhat
measure the excellence of schools
aroundtheworldinreading,math,and
science,hewouldbehorrifiedbyhow
America,despitespendingmoremoney
thanmost,isatbesta globalalso-ran.
Thesamenames keepcomingatthe
top:Japan,Singapore,SouthKorea,and
TaiwanfromAsia;Estonia,Finland,and
SwitzerlandfromEurope,withIreland
andPolandalsodoingwell;andCanada.
These more successful countries
paygoodteacherswellandweedout
badones;theyfocusoncoresubjects;
andtheyprovidea varietyofschoolsto
addressthevarietyofabilitiesandapti-
tudes.Bill Lincolnwouldsetstricter
standardsforteachers,butwouldpro-
videmoremoneyinatleasttwoareas.
One ispreschool education. This is
whereinequalitystarts—wherethemid-
dleclasseswhocanaffordnanniesstart
tomoveahead,andthechildrenofsingle
parentsarepunished.Theotherareaof
educationalinvestmentwouldbeatthe
otherendoflife.Technologyischang-
ingjobsata timewhenAmericanslive
andworklonger.Offeringa year’ssubsi-
dizededucationafterage 50 makessense.
Right-wingersliketoarguethatoverseas
aidshouldbefocusedonprovidingthe
poorwithfishingrodsratherthanfish.
The same applies to older Americans.- Unleash technology
Again,bothLincolnandGladstonewere
interestedintechnology,theformerasan
inventor(witha patentforliftingboats),
thelatterasthechampionofVictorian
entrepreneurs.Inthe19thcentury,the
telegraphandtherailroadtransformed
Americangovernment.Today,littleof
SiliconValley’sinventivenesshasbeen
appliedtoAmerica’spublicsector.What
chancewasthereoffightingCovid-19,
whenabout40%oftheITsystemsat
theDepartmentofHealthandHuman
Servicesare“legacy”ones,nolonger
supportedbytheirmanufacturers?
Asiangovernmentsare stealinga
marchonAmericainusingtheInternet
ofThingstomonitorsmartinfrastruc-
ture.TheU.S.hasstintedonhigh-tech
infrastructureforthesametworea-
sonsit letsbridgesandroadscrumble:
becauseentitlementshooverupsomuch
cashandbecausenobodycountsthe
dilapidationinthenationalaccounts.
Bill Lincoln should borrow from
America’spast,aswellasAsia’spres-
ent.FranklinRooseveltbuiltthedams.
DwightEisenhowerbuiltthefreeways.
BillLincolnwoulduseAmerica’sability
toborrowlong-termmoneyatcloseto
0%tobuildtheinfrastructure a knowl-
edge economy needs.- Go local
As“laboratories of democracy,”the
states used to be America’s way of
renewing itself. Welfare reformand
charterschoolsbothbeganinMinnesota
andthenspread acrossthe country.
PresidentObamaestablisheda “Race
totheTop”programtospreadsuccess-
fulideasineducation;it fizzledout.Bill
Lincolnwouldcertainlytrytospread
ideas around the states, but atthe
momenttheyarenotwheretheactionis.
Globally,mayorsaredrivingmostof
theinnovationingovernment.Theyare
closertotheirpeoplethannationalpoli-
ticiansare;theyalsotendtobemuchless
partisan.OnereasonSeoullostmerely
20 peopletoCovid-19is thatit hadcom-
petentcityleadership.InAmerica,Los
Angeles,SanFrancisco,andSeattleall
didreasonablywellathandlingthepan-
demic.BostonandSanFranciscoare
good at technology; Dallas leads the way