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Hank Hoffman: Do the Democrats risk painting themselves into a corner by making “affordability” their signature issue? That seems awful hard to deliver on. Modern technological society is expensive to maintain, a fact most people don’t appreciate. Dems can avoid exacerbating things a la Trump’s tariffs, but managing notable improvements seems a challenge.

By contrast, it seems delivering on a democracy agenda could be more possible.

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I don’t think it has to be either/or, but you’re right to see a trap here in affordability literalism. Perry Bacon Jr, Will Stancil, and I discussed this at some length just before the holiday break, if you want to hear my longer thoughts.

But in short: If I were running for federal office, and blaming Republicans for high prices, I’d make forward-looking affordability appeals in one or both of two ways.

The main thing I’d do is not bullshit voters. I’d tell them the politicians promising to lower the price of everything, Republican and Democrat alike, were dishonest panderers. Then I’d try to reframe the sentiments that I think are driving the craze over “affordability.”

Nobody’s livelihood is made or broken by whether beef costs $5 per pound or $5.50 per pound. But the majority of people buying staple goods have been through a lot over the years. If you’re 35 or older, you’ve had to contend as an adult with a huge global recession, and a huge global pandemic, and now a world-order shattering American presidency. Many people reasonably fear that this, or the next big, unprecedented disruption, will be the one that upends their life. So when things become more expensive, it eats into our already threadbare insurance against catastrophe. The answer to that sense of precariousness—which stems from the chaos of modern life, rather than from actual deprivation—is safety nets.

To that end, I’d promise to do everything possible to make it easier for people to weather turbulent times. There’s no straightforward way to make groceries cheaper, but there are ways to make fluctuating grocery prices feel like less of a big deal.

Separately (or simultaneously) I’d observe that, though society has become richer, it’s materialized as a swap that most people would never have chosen if they understood the tradeoff at the outset. Our gadgets are cheaper, and we own many more of them. Cars work better—even entry level ones have nav systems. I can control my air conditioning from my phone, and buy sushi in strip malls hundreds of miles from the coast. But basically all big ticket expenses—the things we need that aren’t luxuries—have all gotten more expensive. Health care, housing, and child care in particular.

Democrats can promise to make those specific things cheaper. Bracketing Trump’s tariffs policy (which adds an extra increment of pain, but is reversible) policy can’t make everything cheaper unless the policy is to impose a severe recession on the economy. But policy can make housing more abundant, and health care and child care more affordable and available (see above about safety nets).

I’d be flattered if an ambitious Democrat or two took me up on this advice. But nobody should do it unless they’re serious. If they’re serious, they’ll know initiatives like these would cost trillions of dollars, and upset powerful incumbent stakeholders (home owners, doctors, hospitals, and the affluent). I’d love Democrats to be willing to take them on, but it is (as you say) painting yourself into a corner to win elections with big promises you can’t or don’t intend to keep.