A house divided against itself cannot stand.

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Abraham Lincoln 

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The markets are moved by animal spirits, not by reason.

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John Maynard Keynes

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​The next problem forward economics works to heal is this country’s increasingly toxic political divide.

According to Pew Research, America has not been this divided since the Civil War. And, as Lincoln warned, a house divided cannot stand.

Much attention has been given to the rise of social media as the culprit. But the deeper and older cause is structural. The source of our division lies in the design of our economy itself.

It began with the decision to divide the economy’s participants into two groups: owners and workers. The former have a claim on profits. The latter generally do not.

That arrangement has long been accepted as necessary. Capital, after all, is needed to fund and grow businesses—and investors take the risk of loss if a venture fails.

But this has proven to be a Faustian bargain. For while it allows business formation, it also guarantees continuous social friction. The design naturally self-organizes political division and instability.    

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​The Mechanics of Division

In the backward economy, a company’s governing rule is simple — maximize returns to shareholders within the limits of the law (as described in Chapter 4).

That goal tends to awaken what the great 20th-century economist John Maynard Keynes called animal spirits—the unruly forces of self-interest and short-term gain that, left unchecked, require external restraint. Government regulation becomes that restraint.

But when regulation comes from outside rather than within, observe the toxic dynamic that emerges.

Owners and investors begin to see the government as an adversary—an obstacle to profit rather than a partner in prosperity. As a result, the economic sphere and the political sphere drift into perpetual conflict.

If a company grows too dominant, antitrust regulators must force its breakup. If it pollutes a river, environmental laws must compel cleanup. If it underpays its workers, tax and welfare programs must fill the gap.

Each act of regulation fuels resentment among the regulated, and each new abuse hardens the resolve of the reformers. Over time, two camps form:

 

• those who distrust business and the wealthy, and

• those who distrust the government.

Money flows to lobbyists and think tanks that entrench each side’s worldview. Political parties absorb these divisions, amplifying them through media echo chambers. The nation begins to fracture into rival tribes, each convinced the other is the enemy.

It’s an economic design flaw masquerading as political disagreement.

 

The Gift to Our Rivals

This internal fracture doesn’t just weaken our democracy—it’s a boon to our adversaries.

When citizens distrust both business and government, the door opens to foreign manipulation. Misinformation finds fertile ground in a divided society. It’s as if we’ve constructed a weapon, loaded it, and handed it to those who wish us harm.

Plainly, we need a smarter system—one that sows harmony rather than division and aligns the activity of enterprise with the wellbeing of citizens and the planet alike.

 

How the Forward Economy Bridges the Divide

The forward economy does just that.

First, it eliminates the artificial separation between owners and workers. In forward enterprises, all participants share in profits and purpose. No group can win at another’s expense. Management, workers, and forward funds are joined together in the success of the firm by design, instead of being divided by interest.

Second, shared prosperity naturally reduces the need for redistributive taxes and complex regulation. As wealth circulates more evenly, government can shrink in scope and tension subsides. The perpetual struggle between business and government gives way to greater cooperation, not coercion.

Third, the noble-cause allocation (Rule 2) provides citizens a powerful new outlet for civic expression. Instead of waiting for Washington to act—or fighting endlessly over what it should do—workers channel a share of national income they’ve helped create directly toward the issues they care about most.

You may care about homelessness. I might focus on clean energy. Our neighbor might support global education. Each cause receives funding in proportion to how many citizens value it.

This decentralized, self-balancing system acts like an economic immune response: identifying and addressing threats in proportion to their scale, without waiting for crisis or command.

 

From Division to Direction

By uniting stakeholders, broadening prosperity, reducing dependency on government, and empowering direct problem-solving, the forward economy restores what the backward economy has eroded: national cohesion.

As trust rebuilds, Americans become less susceptible to disinformation and more capable of collective purpose.

And when that happens—when a nation rediscovers harmony and direction—it can finally turn its energy to something far greater than internal strife: solving problems, not fighting over them.

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