As liberals strive for a vision of governance to cure what ails U.S. democracy—and to return a Democrat to the White House—a group of influential thinkers and policymakers has settled on the idea of “abundance.” Popularized by journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, abundance is an agenda to jump-start the production of public goods that enhance affordability, opportunity, and quality of life. It aims to harness the United States’ culture of innovation by pairing government with businesses, entrepreneurs, engineers, and technologists to build a more dynamic nation. In their 2025 bestseller, Abundance, Klein and Thompson argue for a politics of making more of what people need.
To succeed, an abundance agenda cannot stop at the water’s edge: It needs a foreign policy to complement its domestic goals. This means averting production disruptions and supply chain snarls abroad and leveraging Washington’s global influence to drive abundance at home. Domestic abundance requires dependable international inputs, including materials, technology, and talent. In a world of intense competition, natural-resource constraints, and the rise of punitive tariffs and other coercive tactics, a thriving, relatively self-sufficient economy is a prerequisite for not just domestic stability and prosperity but also national security.
