Bringing Back the American Dream

From 1975 through 2022, there were only 30 out of 379 Gallup polls when half or more of Americans approved of Congress’s job performance – all of which occurred between 1998 and 2004. We disapproved of Congress’s job performance more than 92% of the time. And, since 2008, our approval of Congress has never surpassed 40%, mostly hovering around 20%.

Americans are justified in this disapproval. Out of the 193 countries in the United Nations, we have the 6^th best Gross National Income per capita (ability to fund ourselves), but we rank 32^nd in life expectancy, 39^th in poverty, and spend the most per person on healthcare. These rankings are directly affected by policies that our legislators, including and especially Congress, create.

The U.S. has the resources to have a far better standard of living than we currently do. Americans should question why our Congress isn’t performing and delivering as well as similar governing bodies in other countries. The American Dream of being a top country to live in is empirically subsiding, despite having the resources to do better.

The good news is the remedy to our sub-standard quality of life is simply a matter of approach.

One of the most important characteristics of a plan is its chances of accomplishing its goal. When designing a building, engineers don’t agree to a plan because it looks impressive – they agree when the math shows that the building will do its job well. The same principle of ensuring efficacy by proof of evidence exists in business management, athletic training, and almost all other professional fields. Yet, our public policies often derive from ideological narratives and “common sense,” causing us to repeat similar dysfunctional ideas.

One example of these dysfunctional policies is the War on Drugs, which utilizes harsher criminal sentencing in an attempt to reduce drug abuse and overdoses. When the War on Drugs was initiated in 1971, 3.3 per 100,000 people died that year because of drug overdoses. By 2020, annual drug overdose deaths rose to 27.9 per 100,000 people. Despite drug overdose deaths increasing by 846% since the beginning of the War on Drugs, its failed approach of harsher drug sentencing still persists at the federal, state, and local levels. While drug overdoses have become more likely due to evolving factors, such as the increased availability of high potency (and therefore more deadly) synthetic drugs, evidence-based policies adapt to changing situations such as this. Since the War on Drugs is not evidence-based, it failed to respond to this development. Making matters worse, we have evidence for better and more cost-effective methods of reducing drug overdoses, but these solutions often go unutilized. While the War on Drugs may sound impressive, the evidence shows it’s clearly ineffective.

When we look at results like these, which are a product of policies shaped by narratives and “common sense,” it becomes clear we need to design our policies with a method that consistently betters our standard of living. It’s time that our legislators utilize evidence to ensure efficacy when crafting legislation. All public policy should be derived from the best available evidence so that our solutions actually work.

One rare example of our legislators utilizing evidence to craft effective policies is seatbelt laws. After looking at hundreds of data points, legislatures outlawed driving without a seatbelt, saving hundreds of thousands of lives (and millions of dollars) by utilizing evidence. Because evidence-based policies like these actually work, they improve our standard of living while utilizing taxpayer dollars more efficiently, saving Americans money.

Thus, the root cause and the solution to our inadequately performing Congress are two sides of the same coin: we are not utilizing evidence-based governance and we should be. The evidence shows that our standard of living should be higher, and it provides us a guide on how to best pursue that improvement.  

Our legislators and our policies can and should be better. To restore the American Dream, we must utilize evidence-based governance.

Yours in republic keeping,
W. Hayden Farris
Franklin Party Operations Director