In the wake of Donald Trump’s election, and amid the wilderness of uncertainty surrounding the presidential race in 2020, one thing is for sure: Democrats need to change the way they talk about the economy. Trump made sweeping promises about jobs that he almost certainly will not keep. “We’re gonna put our people back to work,” he told his supporters. “I’m going to create jobs, great jobs,” he vowed. “If you get laid off on Tuesday, I still want your vote. I’ll get you a new job, don’t worry about it.”

Such vague and misleading assurances are almost impossible to combat—especially if Democrats stick to their normal, ineffectual script. Hillary Clinton promised a “new bargain for the new economy”—but she never actually pledged to give Americans what they need in this one. She vowed to provide tax relief to small businesses and invest in infrastructure, but she left it to voters to figure out how something as distant and programmatic as cutting taxes or building a bridge would get them a better paycheck.

If Democrats want to win elections, they should imbue Trump’s empty rhetoric with a real promise: a good job for every American who wants one. It’s time to make a federal jobs guarantee the central tenet of the party’s platform. This is the type of simple, straightforward plan that Democrats need in order to connect with Americans who struggle to survive in the twenty-first-century economy. And while a big, New Deal–style government program might seem like a nonstarter in this day and age—just look at the continuing battle over the Affordable Care Act—a jobs guarantee isn’t actually so far-fetched.

Americans overwhelmingly want to work: Most people say they get a sense of identity from their job and would keep working even if they won the lottery. Joblessness is even associated with poorer mental and physical health for entire families—not working appears to make us sick. And there’s already strong support for a jobs guarantee: In a 2014 poll, 47 percent said they favor such a program. A jobs guarantee holds the promise not just of jobs for all, but of a stronger and more productive economy for everyone. The biggest obstacle, in fact, might be the Democratic Party’s own timidity.

A jobs guarantee isn’t new to the Democratic Party. Huey Long wanted one, Franklin Roosevelt called for one, and George McGovern proposed one when he ran for president in 1972. The promise to push the economy into full employment was a fundamental Democratic theme for decades. But when McGovern lost to Richard Nixon in a landslide, the newly ascendant neoliberal wing of the party blamed McGovern’s populism for his defeat. They turned the party toward the center—supposedly the only way to win elections—and mostly left it to the private sector to keep Americans gainfully employed.