How will our state government redefine “rights, freedoms and prosperity” in 2019?

In voicing their support for Unite Her/Local 5’s strike for better wages (“A truly sustainable Hawaii means one job should be enough,” Island Voices, Nov. 8), the authors point to the “profound connection between how we treat each other and how we treat the environment we all rely on.”

Chandran Nair makes a similar argument in his new book, “The Sustainable State: The Future of Government, Economy and Society.” Drawing on his global experience, Nair, founder of The Global Institute for Tomorrow, makes a compelling case that local governments must reclaim the commons for everyone. He rightly argues that the responsibility lies first with policymakers because “the challenge of sustainability is one of protecting public good … sustainability is about the notion of “less” and corporations do not do “less”; they do “more.”’

We know the planet’s resources are finite, but we act as if they are not. Governments often wait for some solution to magically appear through human ingenuity to accommodate our desire for more, more, and more, because it is hard to tell voters that they need to consume less — or pay more for the new, new thing they want.

It is even harder to tell corporations, post-Citizens United, that they have to pay more for the air, water, land and infrastructure that they use. It is easier to give out permits to developers with lobbying power than figure out how to build affordable housing for those without power — or insist that corporations, and other powerful institutions like the military, clean up the messes they create.

We allow development that favors the wealthy while wringing our hands at how to help struggling workers. We allow the obscene spectacle of multimillion-dollar condos being built for absentee owners while thousands live on our sidewalks. The Amazon search that ended with New York and Virginia essentially bribing one of the world’s richest companies to locate two of its headquarters offices in cities the company was eyeing all along is a classic example of corporate blackmail. This will only end when local governments agree to stop playing these games that force them to compete by offering billion-dollar handouts to companies. Companies accepting these handouts make corporate social responsibility look increasingly like a quaint idea.

As in his earlier book, “Consumptionomics,” Nair invites us to challenge tired models of economic development. Adam Smith, oft-cited as the father of modern economics, died in 1790. But more than 200 years later we still talk about the invisible hand of the market producing equilibrium while the very visible spectacle of people living on sidewalks grows.

Nair’s book should be required reading for our lawmakers as they prepare for 2019. Perhaps newcomers might offer it to senior colleagues to inject fresh thinking into our very tired state Capitol?

If we must invoke Adam Smith, why not remember that he said “no society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable”?

Policy-makers will not lack for reminders of the poor and the miserable camped not far from their offices. Hawaii’s state government is indispensable in the fight for a living wage, paid family leave, decent public education and more. Will 2019 be the year our elected officials act decisively to protect the public good? Chandran Nair’s book could stiffen their resolve to do so.

Dawn Webster is a communications consultant and issues advocate in Honolulu.