Policy reform advice for the Trump administration (the series)
A Table of Contents with links to a series of articles on this topic.
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On January 20th, President Donald Trump is going to start his second administration. After that date, the Republican party will control:
the Presidency
Majorities in the US House and US Senate, and
Majority in the US Supreme Court.
This gives the Republican party the opportunity to implement sweeping Congressional legislation and executive orders. For that reason, I am writing a series of articles giving Trump policy advice from a Progress-based perspective.
I am a member of the Progress Studies movement. The goals of the Progress Studies are to:
Promote an awareness and understanding of human material progress as one of humanity’s greatest achievements.
Study the history of material progress to identify:
the origins and causes of progress, and
how progress works in our daily lives.
Apply that knowledge to develop policies and practices that promote future progress.
Build coalitions to implement those policies and practices in the real world.
In this series, I will focus on goals #3 and #4.
To be clear, this series is not an endorsement of Donald Trump or the Republican party. The Progress Studies movement is non-partisan and non-ideological. We are not associated with any political party or politician. Above all, we support:
Implementing policies that have already proven positive results and
Rolling back policies that undermine the foundations of material progress.
The second Trump administration presents a unique opportunity to have important policy reforms implemented. Regardless of what you think about Trump as a person or the Republican party as an institution, the Progress Studies movement needs to make our voices heard.
Of course, I am not naive enough to think that Trump or one of his key advisors will read this series, but I do believe that public opinion matters and we should use our influence to shape it. Writing Substack articles is one of the most cost-effective means to do so. This series is my attempt to do so.
I do not claim to speak for the entire Progress Studies movement. I am sure that a sizable portion of the movement hates Donald Trump and believes his administration will be a disaster. The Progress Studies movement, however, should be:
Non-partisan
Non-ideological
Results-oriented, and
Capable of working with whoever citizens elect as our leaders.
I also do not claim that this advice is completely unbiased and objective. I do believe, however, that the policy advice that I give is:
backed by a dispassionate study of the history of progress and
how past government policies have influenced that progress.
In short, my policy advice is based on the Progress-based Perspective and what is reasonably possible for the Trump administration to implement.
If we in the Progress Studies movement want to make a difference, now is the time to speak up. The start of a new administration with a Trifecta in the federal government (President, Senate, House plus Supreme Court) does not happen often. Another opportunity like this may not come for another generation.
My hope is that others in the Progress Studies movement will write a similar series of articles.
Below are links to articles in my series of proposed policy reforms that the Trump administration should implement. Some of these articles have not yet been published, so the title contains no hyperlinks. As I publish new articles, I will add links on this page.
I will devote relatively little space in these articles to explain why they will likely promote future material progress because I have already done so in previous articles. My focus will be on explaining the details of exactly what executive orders and Congressional legislation should be implemented in the next 15 months (the typical time span that Presidents have to implement their agenda).
I hope to publish this entire series by the end of January or early February 2025. If you have not done so, please subscribe to my Substack. The entire series as well as 95+% of my articles are free.
Table of Contents for the “Policy reform advice for the Trump administration” series:
Priorities for the second Trump administration (a must-read to understand the constraints that Trump must operate within).
Trump can unleash a massive economic boom (tax policy)
… (I am keeping the titles of these other articles a secret for now)
(coming later in January and February)
Federalism: one simple reform to solve all our problems (what I would do if I were elected President).
If you enjoyed reading this series of articles, you might also be interested in reading my “From Poverty to Progress” book series:
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Perhaps this is the optimist in me, but I do wonder if the second Trump term will end up being quite different from the first.
There is a chance (albeit very small chance) that we get some positive legislation and initiatives. One thing I recently wrote about is the possibility of curtailing regulatory bloat. This seems essential, perhaps even core, to any discussion of progress.