Political arguments over public policy and social outcomes have made their mark on 2021 as they have for many years. Conservatives tend to seek stability, security, and economic growth, while claiming that progressive ideas risk destabilizing, weakening, and bankrupting our nation. Progressives argue for social and economic changes that support the poor and the middle class, while at times sounding critical of conservative objectives — as if freedom, peace, faith, stability, and prosperity are not shared values. Progressives at times emphasize change without being quite as clear about outcomes. Meanwhile, the very ideas conservatives criticize are often those policies that could benefit the stability, security, and growth that they seek. 

But what if we could ignore the arguments and imagine a better world for 2022 and beyond?  Imagine, for example, a nation where all can support ourselves and our children in comfortable housing, with full access to the best health care, child care, and elder care for our parents and grandparents. Imagine, for example, that these very same citizens — Black, White, LatinX, recent immigrants, all — could afford three meals a day, heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer, trips to the dentist and the eye doctor when needed, gas in the car, paid sick, vacation, and parental leave days, and a modest vacation once or twice a year. Imagine, too, that our own economic lives were secure and stable — that is, with little risk of losing our jobs, health insurance, or retirement plans, due to downsizing, restructuring, or efficiency efforts that forfeit jobs in exchange for shareholder profit. Imagine too that institutional walls could be lowered so that access to the best schools, colleges, hospitals, financial institutions, and neighborhoods, were all within reach. Today this is only true for some of us — what if tomorrow it were true for all of us? Can we imagine that? Are we willing to imagine such dramatic steps forward for millions of people and especially our children? Do we care enough about others to make it happen? 

Now think about the stability of a neighborhood, a city, and a country when all citizens feel fully invested, when all have a sense of complete ownership, when everyone shares a sense of pride and self-respect in their home, their city, their nation, and — perhaps most importantly — themselves. Imagine the increased investment in homes, neighborhoods, and downtowns. Imagine the unwillingness to allow crime, drugs, and external threats overtake our lives. Imagine the better places we would live, and the better people we could all become. Ours is a nation of such immense wealth and opportunity that all of this is within reach if we are willing to accept some changes to our tax laws, improvements in social and economic policy, and prioritizing children and families first and foremost. 

No changes require socialism, none. All can be accomplished without altering our commitment to economic capitalism. Some changes will be more challenging than others. Taking the courageous step to make this exercise in imagination a reality would not be without some loss, especially for those very few who wish to keep the overwhelming benefits for themselves at the expense of others. But changes are needed to reverse our rising inequality and our declining social mobility. Despite our ongoing arguments, our system continues to prioritize the interests of a few above the life chances of many, especially our children and grandchildren. 

The best solution to reducing class, race, and ethnic conflicts is lowering the barriers and the perceived differences that stand between us. E Pluribus Unum — out of many, one — is an unfinished process, and we have much room for improvement. Let’s all commit to moving in that direction in 2022.