Everything Congress does – everything – has a broad spectrum of impacts, most of which are directly affecting our overall wellbeing. One of the most important things that should be done is truly measure all the critical elements that proposed legislative initiatives impact and make those measures publicly available. Currently, the public must rely on scattered, undependable, non-factual sources typically with partisan agendas.
Our current legislative initiatives are heavily dependent on just two factors:
Fiscal policy – Government tax and spend
Monetary policy – Fed money supply and price control
Both are centered on the nation’s economy. What’s missing? Civil Policy – a true measure of personal, cultural and environmental value. We are so focused on what simply should be a medium of exchange that we relegate our overall wellbeing to second place.
Further, the public is provided little non-partisan assessment of legislative impacts outside of the economic sphere.
The work done by policymakers is a significant driver of cultural transactions and should be measured for a broad spectrum of value in addition to economic impacts.
What should we be measuring and delivering to the public when applicable?
Climate – energy, carbon embodiment, entropy, resource extraction
Civil and Cultural Value – UN Sustainable Development Goals
Capital Balance – capital transference and concentration
Resource Capacity – production, labor, natural resources, distribution
Acceptance – Individual and social behavior
What does this do? It opens up legislation to public scrutiny and deliberation. It casts light on what in the past has been obfuscation and manipulation by lobbyists and self serving politicians.
And here’s the good part. Congress already has the beginnings of a tool for public civil policy, the CBO. All it will take is expanding their mandate.
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