Revista (PDF) - Universidade do Minho

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is denied a fair start, how can the rest of us expect them to reciprocate
as the need requires?
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DIACRÍTICA
I have been painting a pretty picture. But politically speaking, isn’t
stakeholding a pipe dream? In this age of globalization, aren’t
progressives condemned to fight a rear-guard battle on behalf of the
welfare state inherited from the twentieth century? How could we
possibly gain political support for a brand new program that carries
such an enormous pricetag?
Because stakeholding strikes at the heart of the problem that has
pushed progressives to the margin of politics. Quite simply, we have
allowed conservatives to portray progressives as if they were primarily
concerned only with the fate of the bottom twenty percent, and not
with the vast middle class – who have graduated from secondary
school but have not graduated university, and so have failed to share in
the great prosperity gained by the symbol-using classes. Unless and
until we come up with a big policy initiative that speaks to middle
class concerns, they will continue to react skeptically to progressive
initiatives, and with good reason. Since they remain economically
pressed, why should they hand over their hard-earned tax dollars to
help those below them?
But stakeholding decisively changes this political equation, and in
a way that makes sense to the average voter. Most of them immediately
turn off the television when some earnest progressive politician begins
to sing the praises of some arcane change in the law regulating social
insurance or child allowances. However well intentioned, such technical
talk suggests to the average voter that he or she is once again being
asked to subsidize the underclass. But $80,000 for each child – now
there is something worth talking about!
Consider the situation of an average American couple of forty year
olds, blessed with two children of ten and twelve. They know full
well that they will be in no position to give their children a stake of
$80,000 apiece in a decade or so. To be sure, they may dream that they
may one day retire with $470,000 and begin to pay a small wealth tax.
But isn’t worth this future tax worth the chance to give your kids
a solid start in life?
The same question is even easier to answer for the vast majority of
Americans in their twenties and thirties – who either have very young
children or are thinking about it. They may regret that stakeholding