I’ve been ruminating over a list of short statements that seem obvious to me, but which I know are somehow controversial. The unifying belief is that life is not a zero-sum game and that we should pursue a structure of the world that creates value.

The left is primarily trying to redistribute the pie while the right is trying to protect existing slices. Some redistribution is probably good, as are some protections, but those arguments are boring compared to answer the important question: how do we make the pie bigger?

1. Conscious, flourishing life is good.
2. More humans living good lives is good. (In and of itself, but additional humans increase progress and economic growth for already-existing humans.)
3. Economic growth is good. (It enables more and better lives.)
4. Cheap and abundant energy is good. (It enables 3, as well as 2 directly.)
5. Building things should generally be allowed. (Enables 3 and 2. Right now, building things is mostly not allowed.)
6. Nuclear power is good and we should be building as much of it as we can. (Enables 4 while displacing problematic forms of energy creation)
7. Immigration is good. (Allows humans to create more value than they could in their original location)
8. Tariffs are bad. (Restricts trade which shrinks the pie)
9. Price gouging is good. (High prices attract additional supply.)
10. More housing makes housing cheaper.
11. Rent control raises rents (because it results in less housing).
12. Infrastructure is good.
13. The Internet is good. (It really does make people’s lives better)
14. Data centers are good. (They are productive infrastructure that enable 13)
15. Allowing human organs to be bought and sold would be good.
16. The National Environmental Policy Act is bad. (Environmental review should not prevent us from improving the environment.)
17. Bad jobs are better than no jobs.
18. Expensive credit is better than no credit.
19. Scarce water should be expensive.

All of the above, directly or indirectly, help grow the pie. I’m happy to expand on any of them.