Fifth, another sketchy idea out there today is free community college. While we do need to reduce student debt and increase educational access, higher education is an investment that benefits most of those benefiting from it, and it is therefore reasonable to ask students to have some financial skin in the game. What should change is the curriculum of many community colleges, which need to be developed in conjunction with neighboring industry and business, and teach more vocational skills of relevance to the existing and future job markets. We might also give scholarships to individuals who would do a year or two of national service afterwards, given the importance of that latter idea, as retired General Stanley McChrystal and others have argued;

Sixth, as we rethink entitlements to address the federal deficit, we must prioritize protection of benefits like social security for lower-wage earners, and not lump everyone together in any reforms that are probably needed to restrain future spending;

Whatever just happened November 6, I heard way too little discussion of ideas like these from either party. Let’s hope that things are better by 2020.

Michael O'Hanlon is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Image: Reuters.