To build a great democracy, we need to change the way we think about our government’s role in building a more prosperous, safe, and healthy society for all Americans. The government engages in policy on everything from housing, to health, to education and retirement, but decades of privatization, deregulation, and outsourcing have gutted these programs and turned them into boondoggles for private industry. What’s worse, many of these programs were tilted by design to work for some Americans and not others, exacerbating racial and geographic inequality.
Investments in public schools, libraries, social security, housing programs, and healthcare are more than just good economic policy – they are the symbols of what our government does for all of us, tangible reminders that American society is a shared national project in which we all take part. They are also places where Americans come together despite their differences. In an era of increasing polarization and isolation, these shared projects are more important than ever. The Great Democracy Initiative will offer plans to reimagine our shared national projects.