CONSERVATISM AND THE REAL PROBLEMS OF INCOME INEQUALITY the image that conservatives are not concerned about the growing income gaps, and thus not concerned about the struggles of working- and middle-class America. What conservatives must do is articulate a broad agenda that seeks to lift burdens from workers and middle-class families, as well as to open up opportunities for economic advancement. And this broader agenda must go beyond the traditional mainstays of conservative policy-for example, across-the-board tax cuts and regulatory reform. Such an agenda would do much in erasing the image of conservatism as caring only about the rich. Economic growth and economic mobility are not the same thing, and conservatives must resist presuming that strength in the former translates to strength in the latter. Conservatives do not want to repeat the performance of the Bush years, when economic growth coincided with stagnant wages and rising healthcare costs. Instead, conservatives must speak directly to the desire of working- and middle-class voters for economic opportunity and mobility-a desire that is far deeper than any desire simply to tax the rich more. This is why the progressive focus on income inequality may unite their activists but does not speak powerfully to voters. But this failure gives conservatives the opportunity to offer voters a true understanding of today's real economic challenge and how it might be addressed. 27