Politicians talk a lot about “our children.” But they rarely act in the best interests of those children after they have grown up, or of their kids and grandkids and beyond—future citizens who right now only exist in our imaginations. In fact, our democracy disenfranchises the millions of future citizens who will be affected by present-day decisions. We need to bring those generations “into the room” where decisions are made.
Protecting the interests of future citizens requires long-term planning and responsibility, but the pressures of both day-to-day governing and politics make them difficult. As the philosopher Roman Krznaric notes, “short-termism” and the “tyranny of the now” lie at the root of many crises. They can be particularly difficult for policy makers to resist. Right now, the capacity for long-term thinking in policy making is extremely limited. We need to deliberately build it in.
This could be done by creating a dedicated staff within the Executive Office of the President focused on future generations: the Future Generations Council. This council would review policies as they are being developed—before they are approved or implemented—to ensure that they consider and address the impacts on citizens of the future.
Several countries have set up processes to incorporate the needs of future generations into policy making. Canada, France, Great Britain, and the United Arab Emirates have adopted varying approaches to this goal, including government bodies and citizen assemblies, with varying levels of success.
But the most ambitious approach is in Wales, whose example has much to teach us in the United States.
In 2015, Wales passed the Well-being of Future Generations Act, which explicitly aims to protect the interests of future generations. The Welsh government describes the purpose of this innovative law: it “requires public bodies in Wales to think about the long-term impact of their decisions, to work better with people, communities and each other, and to prevent persistent problems such as poverty, health inequalities and climate change.” It outlines seven measures of well-being that all 44 of the country’s public bodies must work towards. It also establishes an independent future generations commissioner—the world’s first—whose mandate is to help “public bodies and those who make policy in Wales to think about the long-term impact their decisions have.”
As envisioned, the Future Generations Council would borrow from the Welsh experience, but with adaptations for the American system. The council would be located within the White House for symbolic and practical reasons—to underscore the importance of planning for the long term and to provide oversight of a wide range of policies. It would be headed by the assistant to the president and collaborate with both the Domestic Policy Council and the National Security Council.
“The Future Generations Council would help us perform our duty of justice to coming generations, both those who will arrive on the scene in the next decade and those who will not be born for hundreds of years.”
The council would provide a review mechanism to examine whether new policies promote the interests of future citizens: future generation audits. We have models for this mechanism: audits of racial equity or environmental impacts that currently take place for many proposed US policies.
The citizens of today must have a role in planning for their descendants’ future. The council can be effective only if it engages in meaningful dialogue with communities across the country and their diverse backgrounds and views. Therefore, the council would sponsor assemblies to hear from them. What problems do they foresee for their communities? Which issues are most important to them? What goals do they have for their future families?
Right now, the Biden administration is focused on the immediate crisis of Covid-19 and its aftermath—as it should be. Yet the crisis of today does not remove our obligation to the future. President Biden is committed to “building back better.” This is the task of generations, not a single presidential term. From climate change to racial inequality, it took centuries to get to this moment. It will take centuries to build back better.
The Future Generations Council would help us perform our duty of justice to coming generations, both those who will arrive on the scene in the next decade and those who will not be born for hundreds of years. It is a chance to bring long-term thinking right into the White House. It is an opportunity to turn those platitudes about “our children” into proactive, concrete steps that create policies to protect our political system, planet, and health.