Symposium

What's Next?

By Kenneth Baer and Andrei Cherny

For at least a decade, progressive thinking has been imprisoned. The fighting faith of the twentieth century has been paralyzed by the need to protect its past achievements and by a divided political landscape that has left it capable of winning only bare majorities, curbing any initiatives for reform.

2008 marks the chance to begin anew. It’s our opportunity to present a new vision of ambition and scope to the nation that addresses the great challenges of our times, from the threats of Islamist terror and global warming to the transformations of the global economy and the aging Baby Boom. In January of next year, the United States has the chance not only to inaugurate a new president, but also a new progressivism.

This campaign season has shown an American public energized and engaged by the political process in ways not seen in a generation and more open to progressive arguments than in many years. However, for all this sense of possibility, we have seen a lack of imagination about what progressives can truly accomplish in America and the world. The media works 24 hours a day, but focuses on perceived candidate slights and stylistic differences. And despite the large number of presidential debates, they have revolved around the candidates’ pasts or minuscule policy differences. No one is asking–or answering–that simple, but vital question: what’s next?

That’s why we are dedicating a large part of this issue to putting forward a new progressive agenda. Democracy always has seen its role as revitalizing and renewing progressive thinking for a new century. Usually, we focus on ideas instead of policies–on overarching approaches rather than the specific proposals which follow from them. But, at this moment, we believe that it is critical to do something slightly different and present 20 specific policies that can point the way toward the next progressivism.

To arrive at this list, we contacted more than 600 policymakers, academics, thinkers, writers, and activists and asked them for their one big idea. We weren’t interested in policy tinkers nor the important, but common, policy prescriptions often bandied about. Instead, we looked for big–even radical–ideas that creatively addressed one of the major problems we face, and could conceivably be implemented someday soon. The responses cover the gamut: from the water crisis in the West to the prospects of peace in the Middle East, from middle-class schools to long-term care, and from ending foreign aid as we know it to curbing climate change. We hope these essays provoke a debate over these next nine months until the next president is sworn in, and start to shape the next progressive agenda.

End Foreign Aid As We Know It

By Larry Diamond

4 MIN READ

New Economy Safety Net

By Lael Brainard

4 MIN READ

Expand the House of Representatives

By Larry Sabato

3 MIN READ

Cap and Lease Carbon

By John Irons

4 MIN READ

A Helsinki Process for the Middle East

By Michael McFaul

4 MIN READ

Progressive Consumption Tax

By Robert Frank

4 MIN READ

Smart Development Subsidies

By Brad Carson

4 MIN READ

Affordable Long-Term Care

By Jeanne Lambrew

3 MIN READ

Public Diplomacy Cabinet Post

By William Galston

4 MIN READ

Middle-Class Schools for All

By Richard Kahlenberg

4 MIN READ

Tradable Water Rights

By Michael Greenstone

4 MIN READ

Home Guard

By Lawrence Korb

3 MIN READ

Pay-As-You-Drive Car Insurance

By Jason Bordoff

4 MIN READ

An SBA For Non-Profits

By Shirley Sagawa

4 MIN READ

After-School Coupons

By Andrew Rotherham

4 MIN READ

A Third Age Bill

By Gara LaMarche

4 MIN READ

Total Tax Credit

By Michael Lind

3 MIN READ

Reinvent Medicare

By David Kendall

4 MIN READ

Deepen Gun Ownership

By Jim Kessler

4 MIN READ

Community Insurance

By Robert Lawrence

3 MIN READ

Kenneth Baer and Andrei Cherny are the founders of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas.

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