A Beginning

There is a sense among many of the young people in this country that the people in charge are not doing a good job. They have ignored major problems and made terrible choices for over thirty years, leaving us a despicable inheritance.

The incumbents, agents of an irresponsible generation, need to go. We need zero structural budget deficit. We need zero net emissions of carbon-dioxide. This is an effort to help make that happen.

Framework for dialogue (Hint: all of these things are related):

1. Marginalize the mainstream media: Legacy media systems (TV, print, radio) thrive on the polarization of society and simplistic narratives, to the point of caricature; the internet provides a flat media structure to enable us to focus on shared values and communal needs, while also promoting access to lots of information, albeit unfiltered.

2. Resist stories: Simplistic narratives lead to knee-jerk responses and unintended consequences, and also to conspiracy theories and stigma. All of these things have negative socioeconomic implications, so, we will try to avoid them.

3. Resist cynicism: Cynicism begets apathy, which is poison to democracy, as it allows corruption of the system. Without hope and passion, even incremental steps in the right direction become impossible to achieve.

4. Vehemently non-partisan: The persistence of political parties, especially as part of one's identity, reinforces our cultural biases; renouncing allegiance to a particular party will help us overcome some of our biases, which will in turn move us closer to rational decisions. Sorry Libertarians, that includes you, too.

5. Government as inter-mediation of cultural values: The rules we create for our society are a reflection of our diverse values, the composition of which ebbs and flows with the rise and fall of each generation. Rather than define "right" and "wrong", we will strive to promote government representatives that make a good-faith effort to represent today's mosaic of American society. Lies, corruption, and self-interest are inexcusable.

Policy imperatives: Cohort Zero revolves around the notion of posterity (i.e. each generation has the responsibility to give to the next an America that is as good or better than the one it received). The generations preceding us have violated this principle, but we will not:

1. Eliminate the structural budget deficit: This must be done in a way that promotes good outcomes for future generations; measures considered punitive to older generations are not necessarily unfair, as the Baby Boomers are largely responsible for the mess we're in.

2. Take leadership on climate change: The United States, historically, is much more successful in its foreign policy goals when we lead by example (e.g. human rights, freedom of speech). We have about twenty years to stop global warming. The United States needs take action immediately, and unilaterally, if necessary. We are the largest economy in the world; if we lead, others will follow.

3. Promote fairness and equality: This is getting into "right and wrong" territory, but these ideals are essential to a functioning democracy, and there is a substantial historical precedent for fairness and equality in this country. We should promote fairness not only across racial, ethnic, and religious lines, but also across generational lines: no generation should benefit at the expense of another. In addition, while we recognize  there are limits to how much we can promote these ideals outside across geopolitical borders, it remains a goal worthy of some of our resources.