I'm for growth and change. It's the only way to stay ahead of population and pollution without engaging the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse full-time.

The success of the 1990s, and the technology industry failures of our own time, have brought me to some political principles that need to be embraced by everyone -- and which are opposed by politicians of every type -- in order to bring back growth.

• Competition
  
• Privacy
  
• Transparency
  
• Liberty
  

Competition is the demand of the nation. It means no person or company gets a free ride. There can be no natural monopolies. These just leave great hunks of capital -- physical, economic, human -- underutilized. The irony is that business moves inevitably toward less competition, just as ecosystems evolve toward a stable, "climax" state. To claim that two monopolists, or participants in a shared monopoly, are truly competing is to lie to yourself. Such lies are comfortable, but they still have their impact.

Privacy is the key demand of the consumer. We can have wonderful new tools and technologies, using data we create in our daily lives, but no one will trust them unless they know the data they create is theirs, that no one can use it against them. Not business, not government. Fear -- of competition, of crime -- is the big enemy here. We have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Transparency is the key demand of investors. If China or India made its markets truly transparent today, if investors knew there were no behind-the-scene shenanigans in those markets, then capital would leave this country in a heartbeat. Throwing Martha Stewart in a halfway house won't do it. Killing companies like MCI, and throwing people like Ken Lay into Abu Ghraib, would just be a start. Because it's not vengeance the market wants, but information.

Liberty is the demand of science. Science cannot take place unless people are free to learn, free to ask questions, and free to test or accept the answers they get. Again fear is the enemy, and any force that seeks to keep men and women in ignorance is my enemy.

If you care about moving forward, demand that your candidates, of both parties, respond specifically on these questions. Open-ended rhetoric won't get the job done. Find the hardest examples you can, and demand hard answers.

Many Democrats today fail this test. So do many Republicans. So, by the way, may you. All of us, it seems, have a price for which we'll sacrifice these fundamental values. So don't just talk to your politicians about this. Have an honest talk with yourself, too.

The society that does the most for these values will hold the key to the future in its hand. If America drops the ball, someone else is bound to pick it up, because the prize is so great. Remember that before you oppose any of these values.

History doesn't need you. America can be replaced.