An Incomplete List of Neoprogressive Values, In No Particular Order
- Governmental policy should aim to achieve good outcomes, based on data. No wishful thinking. For example: single-payer healthcare is cheaper and offers better outcomes than the current horrendous mishmash we have in the states.
- Any system which fails to achieve obviously good outcomes (like the U.S. and its insurance mishmash) isn’t working well.
- Really, the current structure of the U.S. government is flawed and there are known fixes. The parliamentary model and instant-runoff voting are but two examples.
- If you have inconsistent beliefs or values, that’s bad.
- Death is bad. If curing cancer is good, so is curing aging.
- Governments should set up small-scale policy experiments, run by scientists who understand experimental design.
- NO TORTURE. It doesn’t work and it makes us look like the monsters we are.
- Don’t punish victimless crimes like smoking pot or prostitution. If the punishment is worse than the “crime”, double failure points.
- Racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination are not just ethically bad, they’re bad for the economy.
- Speak out against evil when you find it.
- Whether or not a fetus is a person, the government shouldn’t compel anyone to allow a parasite to live inside them.
- Technology has given us many wonderful things, but it has also given us terrible weapons capable of destroying all human life. Think carefully before engaging in even more insane weapons research.
- Corporations are a useful legal fiction for limiting personal liability. They are not people and we should not care about their well-being at all, and certainly not more than we care about the well-being of their employees.
- Everyone should have an awesome life, and governments should exist to make people’s lives awesome.
- Regulate industry to maintain transparency. You should be able to sell bad meat, so long as there’s a prominent “BAD MEAT” sticker on it.
- Sex isn’t sacred, and neither is anything else. Treat it like any other slightly risky activity that consenting adults can do together. Like football or air travel.
- Markets are useful, but they aren’t sacred either. Regulate them when it’s useful to regulate them. Unrestrained capitalism isn’t good for most of us.
- Free speech. The U.S. does a pretty good job with this one, but it could be even better.
- Being a rich white man doesn’t make you evil, but it does make you lucky. Refusing to admit your incredible luck makes you an asshole.
- If your government is operating in secret, it’s not your government any more.