I have been waiting almost thirty years to hear someone correct Ronald Reagan’s original, cynical question “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” Finally, we have it right. From Barack Obama’s speech:

The question in this election is not “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” We know the answer to that. The real question is, “Will this country be better off four years from now?”

It is the difference between a solipsistic view of the good and a social one. It is the only difference that matters.