For 230 years, Americans have
been united by a simple,
common dream that tomorrow
will be better than today.
The promise of American
life, handed on through a dozen generations,
rests on this basic bargain: All of
us should have the opportunity to live
up to our God-given potential, and the
responsibility to make the most of it.
In the 20th century, that basic bargain
built the greatest middle class the
world has ever known. The expansion
of opportunity in return for hard work
and sacrifice made us the richest, safest,
strongest nation on earth, and enabled
us to defeat fascism and communism.
We ended the last century with
America's economic might at its zenith,
with Americans at their most optimistic,
and with nearly all who endeavored
to make the most of their opportunities
and talents getting ahead in life.
Over the last five years we've
taken a different direction -- one that
offered the greatest help to those
with the most wealth, under the mistaken
belief that when the wealthy
do even better, the middle class will
eventually get their share.
But this economic philosophy has
shortchanged America and failed the
middle class, too. For the first time ever,
we've had four straight years of rising
productivity and falling incomes.
Americans are earning less, while the
costs of a middle-class life have soared:
In the past five years, college costs are up
50 percent, health care 73 percent, and
gasoline more than 100 percent.
U.S. companies and workers face
new challenges because they have to
compete against companies and workers
from other countries that have made
education the top national priority, take
energy efficiency seriously, and spend
half as much on health care as we do.
These trends aren't just a burden for
middle-class families. They undermine
our way of life, because
middle-class strength and growth have
been the backbone of America.
Together we can face that challenge.
Throughout our history,
America has responded to new challenges
with a new faith in our basic
bargain. The world has changed over
the past 50 years, and the terms of our
basic bargain must keep pace.
The chance for every American to
get ahead, regardless of background, is
the engine of America's economic
growth and social progress. A growing
economy and a growing middle class
go hand in hand. To remain
strong in the world, the American
Dream must be strong and alive here at
home. And as we continue to navigate
through these changing economic
times, restoring the promise of the
American Dream is the central economic
issue of our time.
That's why the three of us have spent
the past year developing the American
Dream Initiative, an opportunity agenda
for the middle class and all who aspire to
join it. With the help of leading thinkers
from across the Democratic Party, we
developed a set of new ideas for the
Democratic Leadership Council's
National Conversation in Denver in
July. Our vision is straightforward and
clear -- to leave our children a richer,
safer, smarter, and stronger nation than
the one we inherited. We will offer a new
opportunity agenda that secures the pillars
of the American Dream:
Every American should have the
opportunity and responsibility to go
to college and earn a degree, and to get
the lifelong training they need.
Every worker should have the opportunity
and responsibility to save
for a secure retirement.
Every business should
have the opportunity to
grow and prosper in the strongest private
economy on Earth, and the
responsibility to equip workers with
the same tools of success as management.
Every individual should have the
opportunity and responsibility to start
building wealth from day one, and the
security and community that come
from owning a home.
Every family should have the opportunity
to afford health insurance for
their children, and the responsibility
to obtain it.
Of all the aspirations that make
up the American Dream, perhaps the
most important is the opportunity to
go to college. College is the key to
whether America will get ahead in a
competitive world, and whether we
can expand and strengthen the middle
class here at home.
We propose a plan to produce one
million more college graduates a year
by 2015 -- so that within a decade,
more than half our young people will
finish college with a degree. Paid for
by getting rid of wasteful business
subsidies, our plan consolidates existing
tax credits into a new
$3,000 refundable tax credit for four
years of college or training, and proposes
a performance-based block
grant that will enable states to reduce
tuition costs and increase graduation
rates. Together, these ideas will make
it possible for any student willing to
work part-time or perform community
service to go to college for four
years tuition-free.
The pillars of the American
Dream -- a college degree, a home, a
secure retirement, and the chance to
get ahead in a growing economy --
are central to our basic values. When
we demand responsibility, it makes
our families, our markets, and our
democracy stronger. When our success
depends on how hard we work,
not how well we're born, there is no
limit to how high we'll reach or how
far we'll go.
America needs a new direction
steeped in our oldest values. The
struggles of the last few years are
America's past, not America's future.
The American Dream has just begun.
