There is a contradiction at the heart of the American project that we have never fully faced.

On the one hand, we claim that all people possess inherent dignity—that worth is not something you earn, but something you are born with. On the other hand, we built our economic system around a very different assumption: that dignity must be proven through productivity, discipline, and success in the market.

Balancing Capitalism and Democracy has created benefits for us as a Nation, but the tension between the two can only stand so much inequality before something breaks.