Like Progressivism, the New Deal, and the New Frontier, the Choice Revolution
is more an attitude, an outlook, and a set of principles than a line-by-line
agenda. Its central impulse is replacing one-size-fits-all programs with
programs that offer a range of options and give Americans the ability
to make personal decisions for themselves. Some Americans are already
blessed with such freedom. Those who have achieved a measure of wealth --
through luck or pluck -- can choose their children's schools, their family's
doctors, their own way of saving for retirement, and so forth. Others
are not so fortunate. Once this disparity did not seem to bother many
Americans. Now they want to be masters of their own destiny again.
The Choice Revolution's force should be felt in every aspect of government
action. But four big areas -- education, retirement savings, job training,
and health care -- best illustrate why the Choice Revolution is needed
and how it would work.
A central plank of the Choice Revolution is giving every parent the right
and responsibility to choose -- from a large menu of good options -- which
public school their children attend. In an Information Age where knowledge,
creativity, and critical thinking define success, a high-quality education
is more important than ever. Yet public schools still rely on a top-down,
regimented "one-size-fits-hardly-anyone" model that strangles
innovation and excellence.
Charter schools have begun to revolutionize the public school system.
They have become oases of innovation in a larger desert of monopolistic
cookie-cutter schools. It is time to bring life to the entire desert.
Every single public school in the country should be made a charter school
-- by giving each school a contract that grants the freedom to innovate
and experiment, and freedom from restrictive red tape, in exchange for
a firm demand for high-end results.
Over the past 20 years, America has doubled the amount of money it has
spent on education -- without an appreciable improvement in our students'
performance. By giving choices to every parent and bringing competition
to every school, the Choice Revolution offers a better way -- a bigger
idea that can bring salvation to every child in the public school system.
The Choice Revolution is driven not only by grassroots innovations such
as charter schools. The real engine for this new political outlook is
the growing trust Americans have in themselves -- a trust built by working
in nonhierarchical, empowering businesses; living in a networked, choice-based
economy; and witnessing the demographic changes that are remaking the
face of American life. One example of this newfound self-confidence is
the explosion in the number of Americans investing in the stock market.
This eruption of interest in investment is not merely a product of faith
in the stock market, but a byproduct of Americans' growing faith in themselves.
They are not just buying securities; they are buying the notion that security
in the Information Age comes in the form of personal decisionmaking ability.
Increasingly, Americans are looking for the same choices they have in
other aspects of their lives; the same choices the wealthy have when it
comes to their retirement today.
Where else will this personal control come to be exercised? The increasingly
important world of job training is another natural arena for the Choice
Revolution. In a world of big businesses bleeding jobs and growing numbers
of workers displaced by technology and globalization, job training is
an imperative for the nation's prosperity and for the job prospects of
millions of Americans. Workers would take charge of their careers, and
competition would create a market dynamic likely to lead to innovations,
improvements, and accountability for performance.
Health care is another area desperately in need of the Choice Revolution.
If more Americans had choices about their health plans -- and didn't have
to take whatever was chosen for them by their employers or the government
-- they would have more bargaining power, would have more say in their
own health care, and would get better service from doctors, hospitals,
and insurers. Instead of giving up on universal health care, the Choice
Revolution would achieve it by putting power and responsibility in the
hands of individual Americans. Universal coverage would ensure Americans
not only better health, but more power.
Today, Americans' freedom of choice is imprisoned. Someone is going to
free the average citizen; someone is going to break the public monopolies
on education and Social Security; someone is going to give decisionmaking
power to those who most need it. The only questions are who and how soon.
That is the faith of the Choice Revolution.
