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Introduction
Everywhere we go in America, people are desperate to know what Democrats stand for, and whether we have a plan to turn the country around. We wrote The Plan because it’s time we gave Americans an answer. One reason politics is so lost these days is that from the economy to national security to the culture, the old maps don’t work anymore. Across the political spectrum, and especially among Democrats and Independents, the hunger for new ideas and clear purpose is overwhelming. Yet the more profound the challenges become, the shallower the political system’s response seems to be. We looked around at all the lost souls here in the nation’s capital, and wondered, what’s our excuse? The Plan is meant to be a revolutionary little book, based on a simple, radical theory: The best way for either party to solve its political problems is to spell out how it actually plans to solve the country’s problems. That’s what we’ve tried to do, with an innovative agenda that is ambitious enough to spell out a new social contract for America, but clear enough that it can be counted off on one hand. We’ve tried to offer a serious agenda and philosophy for how to run the country, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to write either a dull policy tome or a partisan pamphlet. It doesn’t do much good to offer big ideas for America if people can’t understand or stay awake to read them. We couldn’t resist poking fun at our profession and some of the nonsense that goes on here, on both sides of the aisle. And there was no point in writing a predictable book aimed only at Democrats. In order to make progress and solve problems, we had to write an honest one. No matter your political leanings – Democrat, Republican, Independent, or none of the above – we hope our ideas will inspire you to think about the great challenges ahead. Whether or not you agree with the specifics of our plan, we urge you to hold us all to the spirit behind it: There is nothing wrong with America – or either party – that can’t be set right by finding the courage, the ideas, and the energy to solve our country’s problems. Rahm Emanuel & Bruce Reed |
