Where America Went Wrong

While the symptoms are generally apparent everywhere that there is something fundamentally wrong with America, the remedy is very specific-we have lost our democratic tradition. The question for America no longer comes down to Democrats vs. Republicans or liberals vs. conservatives or free market libertarians vs. anti-globalists, but rather to a simple formulation of the people vs. the elites. Some might argue that such delineation might initiate a class war. Wake up! The class war has already begun.

Something has gone terribly wrong in America. The bastion of democratic freedom in the world is ignoring its own democratic traditions at home and abroad and the results are immediate and painful. World opinion of America has dropped precipitously. The world economy has stalled, especially in Africa and Latin America. Americans are consuming more and enjoying it less. The world is not at peace.

It is time for Americans and members of the world community who are unhappy with the direction that America is going to stand up and raise their voices. Elites, big corporations, and special interests have had their failed day in the sun and now it time to return America to its people to which it owes everything.

The solution is democratic reform. Talbott shows how greater direct democracy can revitalize not just our politics, but our economy as well. Voting rights, constitutionalrights, human rights, democratic institutions, a free press, civil liberties, and especially rights to assemble and speak are important not just in the world's repressive regimes but also in America, which has seen a long erosion of these basic rights so important to her people's prosperity and individual freedoms.

America's next great political battle won't be fought between Democrats and Republicans: it will be fought between elitists and populists. This book begins that battle.