Our Mission
All FREOPP research considers the impact of public policies and proposed reforms on those with incomes or wealth below the U.S. median.
The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity seeks to expand economic opportunity to those who least have it, using the tools of individual liberty, free enterprise, technological innovation, and pluralism. FREOPP deploys the nation’s leading public policy scholars to serve this mission. All research conducted by FREOPP considers the impact of public policies and proposed reforms on those with incomes or wealth below the U.S. median. FREOPP is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan organization financed by tax-deductible contributions from individuals, foundations, and enterprises.
Americans overwhelmingly agree on equal opportunity
FREOPP is an attempt to resuscitate the model of non-partisan policy research that can attract the support of policymakers on both sides, by adopting as its cause a principle that nearly all Americans support: equality of opportunity.
“The American dream that we were all raised on is a simple but powerful one,” Bill Clinton used to say. “If you work hard and play by the rules, you should be given a chance to go as far as your God-given ability will take you.” As Teddy Roosevelt put it, “equality of opportunity means that the commonwealth will get from every citizen the highest service of which he” — or she — “is capable.” Jack Kemp called it the American Idea: “The Declaration of Independence applies to every individual; everyone should have the opportunity to rise as high as their talents and efforts can carry them; and while people move ahead, we should endeavor to leave no one behind.”
We fully appreciate that there is a diverse range of opinions about what equal opportunity is, and how best to achieve it.
But a debate about how best to achieve equal opportunity isn’t a debate about good vs. evil. It’s a debate among people with shared values, one that can be improved with evidence, and expanded with new ideas.
The key to bipartisanship: Market-based ideas with progressive policy outcomes
What could a unifying, equal opportunity agenda look like?
It would advance the principle that all Americans are treated equally under the law, regardless of their means or ancestry.
It would improve the educational options available to low-income families, and disrupt the higher ed cartels that endlessly raise tuition, miring generations of Americans in trillions of debt.
It would ensure that every American has affordable health insurance — by harnessing private-sector innovation to improve quality, expand choice, and lower costs.
It would combat policies that increase inflation and the cost of living, while enabling more Americans to use new tools, like bitcoin, to protect the value of their savings.
It would expand the number of Americans who can responsibly borrow what they need to buy a car or own a home, and make the engine of economic growth accessible to everyone.
It would help tens of millions of Americans make their rent and mortgage payments — by restraining “not in my backyard” regulations that enrich the wealthy at the expense of the poor.
And it would reduce carbon emissions and thereby address climate change not by making energy costlier for low-income families—but by deploying technologies, like nuclear fission, that make energy more abundant and more carbon-efficient.
What do these ideas have in common? They deploy classical liberal ideas to achieve progressive policy outcomes: expanding economic opportunity to those who least have it.
As President Obama put it in 2015, “the free market is the greatest producer of wealth in history — it has lifted billions of people out of poverty.” Public policy doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. There are ways to advance progressive goals of more economic mobility, while also advancing conservative goals of a more dynamic, innovative economy. This combination is the key to bipartisan support for policies that can make a real difference for hundreds of millions of people.
Reinventing the think tank
Policy-focused think tanks have been a part of America life for a century, beginning with the foundation of the Institute for Government Research — today’s Brookings Institution — in 1916. For most of the twentieth century, the purpose of think tanks was to serve as “universities without students,” where policy scholars could conduct empirical research on legislative and regulatory reforms, without the distractions of everyday politics.
But today, as the American electorate has become more polarized, so have think tanks. Some policy research institutions have currency on the left, and some on the right. But few have currency on both sides of the aisle.
As Tevi Troy notes in his 2012 article for National Affairs, “Devaluing the Think Tank,” the think tank community has become more partisan than it was in the past:
Today, while most think tanks continue to serve as homes for some academic-style scholarship regarding public policy, many have also come to play more active (if informal) roles in politics. Some serve as governments-in-waiting for the party out of power, providing professional perches for former officials who hope to be back in office when their party next takes control of the White House or Congress. Some serve as training grounds for young activists. Some serve as unofficial public-relations and rapid-response teams for one of the political parties — providing instant critiques of the opposition’s ideas and public arguments in defense of favored policies.
It’s easy to see why such institutions would be useful to those who seek to win elections. But politically oriented think tanks are much weaker at garnering the broad, bipartisan, public support for significant legislation and necessary reforms. Nothing important can reach the President’s desk without first garnering 60 votes in the Senate. And, with very few exceptions, the support of members of both parties are needed to garner those 60 votes.
A liberal think tank for the 21st century
Because we champion the values of both progressives and conservatives at the same time, a question we often get at FREOPP is: “How do you categorize yourselves politically? What political box should we put you in?” The truth is that we don’t fit into any of the boxes that define American discourse today. FREOPP is host to both Democrats and Republicans, but mostly to people whose views don’t map clearly onto either party.
If you’re going to force us to pick a term, the one that best describes and unites us is “liberal.” All of us at FREOPP are big believers in the foundational importance of free inquiry, without which we won’t come up with innovative new ways to improve Americans’ lives. The broad tradition of political liberalism, as described in Wikipedia, is one of “liberty, consent of the governed, and equality before the law”; of evidence-based scientific knowledge; and of “more positive and proactive measures…required to ensure that every individual [has] an equal opportunity of success.”
Every day at FREOPP, we work to build a credible bridge between those on the left and the right who genuinely want to expand opportunity to those who least have it. Because that’s the only way we’ll achieve real progress: together.
