Abundance is all about Ubuntu

The new abundance movement needs a moral north star

If you are reading this newsletter, you have almost certainly heard about the Abundance movement. Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson recently released their book by the same name, which made it to the #1 spot on The New York Times Best Seller list earlier this month. Alongside the book there are a number of impressive new organizations, such as Inclusive Abundance which have sprung up to promote an abundance agenda.

Abundance encapsulates many of the themes I have written about in this newsletter: a need to make it easier to build more and faster in this country, to implement pro-growth regulatory reform, to foster the freedom to thrive, and to embrace a workhorse vs show horse mindset. It offers a framework for solving some of this country’s most pressing problems.

It also has urgent political utility as a differentiated economic vision to that of Donald Trump’s. Although it shares an unabashed commitment to American greatness, it could not be more different in approach. Trump believes that the best way to achieve greatness is through sheltering American companies from outside competition, dismantling American state capacity, and taking a zero-sum approach to domestic and global relationships.

Centrists are in desperate need of a clear and contrasting economic vision to Trump’s pessimistic philosophy, and Abundance is the best option yet. Behind the vague-sounding name is a substantive macro economic theory known as supply-side progressivism, which seeks to fix the needless scarcity that drives up housing, healthcare, and higher education costs by promoting regulatory reform and improved state capacity. It is also strongly anti-trust in order to foster an equal economic playing field.

The theory is good, but it suffers from the fact that it was clearly cooked up by policy wonks. Most Americans’ eyes glaze over at the phrase “supply side progessivism.” They want a clear, effective, and impassioned alternative to Trump, but they are not looking for a macro-economics lesson.

That does not make Abundance a bad concept; it just needs a more obvious moral narrative that Americans can latch onto.

The African concept “Ubuntu” may have something to offer.

After I witnessed my beloved Boston Celtics blow another, 20-point lead to the New York Knicks, I watched an episode of the new HBO documentary series, Celtics City, for some inspiration and hope.

Episode 8 is titled Ubuntu and it tells the story of how three super stars joined forces, sacrificing personal accolades for team success. Each of the players had great stats on their previous teams but as a new, superteam they needed a more selfless approach to maximize team success.

Coach Doc Rivers told them about Ubuntu.

The word is sometimes translated as “I am because you are” and is founded on a belief that an authentic and individual human being is part of a larger and more significant relational and societal world.

For the Celtics players, they interpreted this as “I cannot be all I can be unless you’re all you can be” and “If you’re successful, that makes me successful.”

The team rallied around this concept of shared success and won an NBA championship in their first year together.

A successful abundance political movement needs a similar moral north star.

Abundance, after all, is not just about maximizing personal prosperity at the expense of everyone else. That’s neoliberalism. Instead, abundance answers the question: how can we grow the most prosperity for the most people? The frame of reference for this movement is not just the individual. It requires us to consider our broader communities.

I would argue that Ubuntu is already implicitly baked into the abundance philosophy. Why does abundance decry NIMBYism? Because one home owner is trying to advance his interests at the expense of his neighbor’s. Why are monopolies bad? Because one corporation is trying to take advantage of others through unfair means. Why is incompetent government bad? Because it is a failure to serve all the American people. Abundance rejects the view that “might makes right.” It demands fairness, not just for ourselves, but also for our fellow Americans.

Ubuntu reminds us that abundance is ultimately a moral battle to build fairer and more vibrant communities.

It is worth noting that Ubuntu is not just another word for “selflessness;” while selflessness is a one-directional sacrifice, Ubuntu is about mutual benefit. It is a particular moral view that says that we cannot be the best version of ourselves unless our neighbors are also thriving.

Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein have given us a savvy and timely macro-economic policy framework, but for it to transform American politics, we must clearly enunciate the compelling moral story that powers it.

Americans are also eager to hear it. They sense the decline of community, civic engagement, and kindness in our society. They have watched the unrestrained excesses of capitalism hollow out local economies. And now they see the President of the United States pursuing a needlessly cruel and self-serving agenda. The common thread to all these trends is a moral failing to consider our shared responsibility, as Americans, to each other.

In a moment in which a bully sits in the White House, a recommitment to a more gracious, community-oriented economic renewal movement may be just what we need.