Even progressive political values get justified as drivers of economic growth

Evidence

Attracting investors and developing an adequately remunerated skilled workforce—these are the goals of the world’s oldest democracy led by a justice-minded president in the twenty-first century. Success in these areas would in turn realize the ultimate goal of the nation and the government that stewards it, “broad-based growth” for the economy as a whole. More importantly, every progressive value—from decreasing domestic violence to slowing climate change — Obama represented as not merely reconcilable with economic growth, but as driving it. Clean energy would keep us competitive — “as long as countries like China keep going all-in on clean energy, so must we.” Fixing our aging infrastructure would “prove that there is no better place to do business than the United States of America.” More accessible mortgages enabling “responsible young families” to buy their first home will “help our economy grow.” Investing in education would reduce the drags on growth caused by teen pregnancy and violent crime, put “kids on a path to a good job,” allow them to “work their way into the middle class,” and provide the skills that would make the economy competitive. Schools should be rewarded for partnering with “colleges and employers” and for creating “classes that focus on science, technology, engineering and math — the skills today’s employers are looking for.” Immigration reform will “harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants” and attract “the highly skilled entrepreneurs and engineers that will help create jobs and grow our economy.” Economic growth would also result “when our wives, mothers and daughters can live their lives free from discrimination … and … fear of domestic violence,” when “we reward an honest day’s work with honest wages” with minimum wage reform, when we rebuild decimated factory towns, and when we strengthen families through “removing financial deterrents to marriage for low-income couples and doing more to encourage fatherhood.” — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 38

Categorization

• XREF: Shows the economization thesis applied to concrete policy discourse; connects to the reader’s broader critique of how economic rationality colonizes political speech. — connects to: Progressive aims are reframed through economic growth discourse — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 36
• QUESTION: Worth asking: to what degree is Brown over-reading Obama’s rhetorical framing as evidence of neoliberal rationality rather than political pragmatism?

Broader Connections

• Progressive aims are reframed through economic growth discourse #corroborates (0.94) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 36