Dear Democrats. You're Close to Something Real. Don't Waste It.
Can Democrats turn a politics of loving your neighbor into wages and homes that make people less dependent on assistance? Responding to James Talarico in March 2026, I use an explicitly fictional set of people in the real town of Chillicothe, Missouri, to test the consequences of well-intended policy.
Pam wants to pay her diner staff more. Kaylee needs a workable job and a home. Dale wants to build starter houses he can sell. Their connected choices lead to proposals for verified wage-linked tax relief, faster permitting, and housing innovation. The argument is to preserve help for people who…
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