A reasonable person might conclude that the American project is in terminal decline. But the same numbers that document the dysfunction point toward a different, more optimistic conclusion.
America’s problems are solved problems.
Universal healthcare is not some utopian fantasy. It is Tuesday in Toronto. Affordable higher education is not an impossible dream. It is Wednesday in Berlin. Sensible gun regulation is not a violation of natural law. It is Thursday in London. Paid parental leave is not radical. It is Friday in Tallinn, and Monday in Tokyo, and every day in between.
We don’t need to become a shining city on a hill to transform Americans’ lives. We just need to become average.
— “The Wall Looks Permanent Until It Falls,” On Data & Democracy
