How Less Can Be More for Everybody

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Elizabeth Warren’s proposal for a wealth tax on the richest 75,000 families is by far my favorite idea to come from the Democratic presidential field of candidates. Rhetorically, I wish she’d add an argument that addresses this ultra-monied cohort directly, with this basic message:

“If you can understand that sharing some of your extreme wealth won’t cause you a shred of actual deprivation, only an abstract sense of having less, can you also imagine a country in which others have much less because of your increased taxes? Less pain, less poverty, less homelessness, less addiction, less climate insecurity? A country in which there is more health, more housing, more education, more safety, more hope, more contentment?

Can you imagine that in turn would mean more for you? More of a sense of being part of the solution, less of being part of the problem? More of a sense that you are a member of the America nation, rather than the multinational nation of the extremely wealthy? Can your really not imagine an increase in your own personal sense of well-being from seeing a country around you that is better, happier, more unified?”

I think most of the .1% is probably immune to this message, (though their sons and daughters seem to be hearing it more and more.) But this message would really be addressed to the 99.9%, for them to understand the…