How We Make Abundance A Lasting Movement

[Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images]

When something becomes popular, there’s always a question of how long it’ll last. Will a new popstar be a one-hit wonder or have a full-fledged career? Some things are clearly fads, but often, it’s only obvious in retrospect whether a cultural phenomenon was actually a permanent shift.

That’s a key question facing the abundance movement right now. In the months since Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s Abundance was published, abundance has gone about as viral as a new political framework can go. It’s dominated “the discourse” – every political outlet had a take on the book, Klein is being heralded (and criticized) as a Democratic powerbroker, and he and Thompson are now greeted like celebrities in places like the U.S. Capitol.

More importantly, their ideas have started to result in real change.

In Congress, the major opportunities for bipartisan achievement are basically lifted from the first few chapters of Abundance: housing and energy permitting reform, pushed in part by the new, abundance-y Build America Caucus, now one of the most active bipartisan caucuses in the House. Governors in California, Montana, Texas, and Connecticut signed major pro-housing bills last year, while those in Oregon, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania are reforming state government. Mikie Sherrill just won in New Jersey on an abundance-coded platform. Donors are getting on board: Coefficient Giving announced a $120M abundance and growth fund, and state capacity expert Jen Pahlka announced another $120M fund. And groups like Inclusive Abundance – which advocates for abundance at the federal level – are now scaling to meet the moment.

And there’s plenty I haven’t listed here. It’s clear, abundance had a wildly successful last year. It won the Grammy for Best New Artist. But the real question is whether that success will endure throughout 2026, 2036, 2046…whether this will be a movement with lasting impacts on the way the U.S. takes on the biggest challenges of our time.

Yet there are some indications that abundance’s influence may have a ceiling. Few of the prospective 2028 presidential candidates have explicitly embraced the abundance movement, though nearly all have espoused aligned ideas. Detractors on X dampened progressives’ excitement by arguing abundance is just neoliberalism rebranded – leaving leaders like Senator Elizabeth Warren skeptical. And from Inclusive Abundance’s work on the Hill with electeds of both parties, we can report that surprisingly few politicians beyond very online moderate Democrats can say exactly what abundance is, beyond “that’s the Ezra Klein thing, right?” Or worse, “So you guys want more stuff?”

But one-hit wonders aren’t destined to stay that way. They have an opportunity: deliver a second album, or fade. Abundance is at that precipice.

So how do we build abundance into an enduring movement? There’s a long list, but here’s a start:

Win elections.

In a democracy, what candidates campaign on sets the foundation for what elected officials govern on. If abundance is seen as a pet project for out-of-touch elites and a detriment to winning over voters everywhere outside San Francisco and Brooklyn – as its haters have vehemently argued – it will be sidelined.

So we must make abundance useful for winning elections. That means message testing, inviting more political practitioners into key conversations, making the case that getting shit done is key to gaining voters’ trust, and educating candidates throughout the country (the ones who don’t already subscribe to Politico Playbook) about what abundance means for them. Of course, learning how to sell the abundance approach doesn’t require ever using the word itself.

Push the movement past pundits.

I’m a big fan of Klein, Thompson, and other abundance commentators like Jerusalem Demsas and Matthew Yglesias – they’re brilliant and popularized the concept that I’m now dedicating the vast majority of my time and energy to. But the reality is, continuing to tie this movement squarely to any single person or book is a mistake. For one thing, they may move on – recent Ezra Klein Show episodes are focused on Gaza and the alt-right. Thompson has expanded to sports gambling and cultural criticism.

It makes sense – they’re commentators and have never professed to be political movement builders. But if abundance doesn’t grow past them, it will be silenced when they’re silent on it. And even when they’re not quiet, that can hurt too – I’ve too frequently been talking to someone about housing policy only to be shut down because they didn’t like Klein’s takes on Israel or Charlie Kirk.

Articulate the vision beyond wonky policy.

Even those familiar with abundance mostly think of it as a call to speed up the construction of housing and clean energy. That’s not necessarily a bad thing in the short term: abundance is now seen as a solution to the number one word on every politico’s tongue right now, affordability.

But defining the long-term agenda around those two issues – and in particular, around boring process changes – makes this a technocratic argument devoid of vision. It risks everyone missing the broader point, that abundance is about a larger mindset shift that encourages electeds, donors, activists, and hopefully voters to become ruthlessly focused on outcomes over process, less risk-averse, and more positive-sum.

So we must do more to anchor abundance not around one or two issue areas, but around the results it offers: greater human flourishing. The boring process changes just get us there.

But while we’re at it, expand the technocratic agenda too.

Abundance is more policy lens than list, but to prove that, we need to build out the list. That may sound counterintuitive, but look at the most robust issues on the agenda: housing and energy. The abundance solutions to those issues are, for the most part, deregulatory – no wonder some circles see our movement as synonymous with deregulation!

Building out the abundance policy playbook would highlight what else a positive-sum, outcomes-oriented approach can offer, including where abundance is compatible with anti-monopoly populism. For instance, an abundance approach could mean building state capacity to fully reap the benefits of immigration, as Demsas has written; or taking on entrenched powers like the American Medical Association to make healthcare more affordable; or coming up with new ways to fund government research and development to support a more innovative economy.

Abundance offers a new way of thinking that could reshape a number of policy areas. Let’s go ahead and dream up the playbook that makes that clear, so people see abundance doesn’t represent tiny, temporary edits but a permanent shift in the way we do politics and make change.

---

What’s next

Inclusive Abundance is working to build the national abundance movement every day – we support the Build America Caucus, launched the annual conference, and help elected officials and candidates looking to roll out abundance policies. And we’re gearing up for an exciting year ahead.

We’re launching this Substack because there are clearly some open questions about this movement. This is where we’ll work through those questions in public – the strategic debates, the ideological and factional tensions, the policy fights on Capitol Hill, and the places where we think the movement needs to evolve.

You’ll get to hear from more than just me. Posts will be authored by different members of our team and eventually by a broader sphere of abundance thinkers. You’ll see message testing, smart policy analysis, and reactions to the political debates shaping (and being shaped by) the movement. New posts will be published around twice per month.

We’re incredibly excited about this Substack. Subscribe if you want to help make abundance a lasting movement.