Last week I went to the "Thinking Forward, Thinking Big" progressive wonkfest hosted by the Economic Policy Institute, Demos, The American Prospect, and the Institute for America's Future.

The predominant message of the day was that an effective, activist government must function to enhance the common good. Having seen the self-destruction of free market theory, the unregulated, unrestrained financial chaos of capitalism, the implosion of those housing bubbles, credit bubbles, stock bubbles, and every other bubble, it's clear that government has a very specific and crucial role to play. The function of government is to buffer the extremes of inequitable wealth distribution, fulfill common needs like universal health care and education of higher quality and lower cost to all citizens, and see to it that all get a share in our collective productivity. Government should be seen as an active participant in our individual and collective goals, uniquely situated to provide certain goods and services that the free market can't or won't. The timing of the conference at the very beginning of the Obama "Change!" administration was propitious, as everyone seemed to be infected with a sort of "anything is possible" kind of glimmer. Not your typical political talkfest.

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