What would it take for more people to truly thrive?
Enough income to meet their needs and save for what comes next. Enough time away from work to rest and enjoy life. Enough freedom to raise children, care for loved ones, maintain friendships, and take part in the communities they call home.
That is the opportunity I want for every person. Your ultimate life may look nothing like someone else’s. It may center on family, friendship, art, service, learning, or a quiet home. It does not require wealth or status. It requires a fair chance to meet your needs and pursue what matters to you.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. At 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, that is $15,080 a year before taxes. The legal minimum says what a covered employer may pay. It does not say what a person needs to live securely.
A living wage is a more useful measure because it considers the cost of basic needs where someone lives. But basic needs alone leave little room for life’s surprises. MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, for example, does not include savings, retirement, emergency expenses, holidays, or leisure spending in its estimate.
A car needs repairs. A tooth needs treatment. Hours are cut at work. A child needs something unexpected. Without savings, one setback can send a household into debt and turn the next several months into a struggle to catch up.
This is not a small problem. In the Federal Reserve’s 2025 survey, four in ten adults with family income below $50,000 said they could not cover even a $100 emergency using only their savings. Among adults with family income of $25,000–$49,999, 61% did not have savings set aside to cover three months of expenses.
That is why I propose a thriving wage: pay that reflects local costs and leaves room to meet ordinary needs, build an emergency fund, save for the future, and make progress instead of living one setback away from falling behind.
Affordable housing, health care, childcare, and other essential services are part of that goal too. A higher paycheck will go further when the basics are within reach.
Money cannot replace being there.
Children need adults who listen and respond. Partners and friends need unhurried time together. An aging parent may need a ride, a meal, or company. Every person needs time to rest and pursue interests of their own.
When politicians talk about “family values,” I want to ask a practical question: Do people have the time and resources to care for one another?
Families take many forms. Children are raised by one parent, two parents, adoptive or foster parents, grandparents, and other caregivers. Some adults live alone and rely on close friends or a chosen family. The chance to thrive should not depend on fitting one model of a household.
I support a national guarantee of four weeks of paid vacation each year for every worker, full-time or part-time.
Everyone would receive four weeks away from their normal work schedule, paid for the hours they otherwise would have worked. A person who usually works 20 hours a week would receive four weeks off and 80 hours of vacation pay. Someone who works 40 hours would receive four weeks off and 160 hours of pay.
This time belongs to the worker. Travel. See loved ones. Volunteer. Stay home. Rest. No one should have to explain how they use it, and no one should have to hold it in reserve in case they get sick.
The European Union requires at least four weeks of paid annual leave. In the United Kingdom, regular part-time workers receive the same number of paid holiday weeks as full-time workers, based on their own schedules. America can guarantee real time away from work too.
The years from pregnancy through age three are especially important for development. Children benefit from safe, stable care and everyday exchanges: someone notices a cry, answers a question, reads a story, plays, or offers comfort. These relationships help build foundations for learning and emotional well-being. Development continues throughout childhood.
That caring adult can be a birth parent, father, adoptive or foster parent, grandparent, or another trusted caregiver. Quality child care can also support development. Families should have genuine choices about care, backed by enough time and financial security to make those choices possible.
I support paid time for each parent or primary caregiver when a child joins the family, along with continuing paid parenting time through the early years. Children need their adults when they are sick. They need them when they are well, too.
Vacation is personal time. Illness and caregiving need their own protections.
I support separate national guarantees for:
Each parent in a two-parent household should have their own protected time. A parent raising a child alone needs additional support that reflects the responsibilities one adult is carrying. These protections should recognize adoptive and foster parents, grandparents raising children, and other primary caregivers.
The detailed number of parenting and child-sick days, payment rules, and support for small employers need to be worked out in legislation. The principle is clear: a child’s illness should not consume their parent’s only chance to rest.
A stronger community is built in ordinary moments. A neighbor checks on someone after a storm. A parent helps at a school. Someone coaches, volunteers at a food pantry, joins a local organization, attends a public meeting, or helps a friend through a hard week.
These connections require time and some financial stability. The OECD finds that volunteers contribute to neighborhood renewal, social connection, and a community’s ability to respond to challenges. Giving more people room to participate could strengthen the places where we live.
The economic opportunity matters too. When working people have more money after paying for necessities, some of it can be saved for security and some can be spent with businesses in their communities. Federal Reserve research finds that the distribution of household resources matters for consumer spending; gains concentrated among the wealthiest do not translate into spending in the same way as resources spread more broadly.
A thriving wage and protected time would not erase the nation’s wealth divide by themselves. They would give more people something that divide too often denies them: a chance to get ahead, withstand a setback, and contribute more fully to their communities.
An ultimate life is the best life you can build when your essential needs are met, a predictable setback does not become a financial disaster, and you have time for the people and pursuits that give your life meaning.
Government cannot decide what that life should be for you. It can help make sure work leaves you with enough resources—and enough of your own time—to pursue it.
Love needs time. Life needs breathing room. Communities need both. Everyone deserves the chance to thrive.