Introducing the Opt Out Society

There's an old saying that says, "don't bring a knife to a gun fight." Another old saw goes "know your enemy." Truer words were never spoken as Democrats approach the 2004 elections. President Bush, fresh off his victory in Iraq, the staged performance on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, and the capture of Saddam, has maintained strong approval ratings. But while the president wraps himself in the flag and the banner of unity in the American war against terror, the GOP assault on common goals and the public interest continues unabated. From economic growth, tax policy and health care to energy policy, retirement security, the judiciary and the environment, the Democrats seem powerless to stop the wartime Republican agenda despite its overwhelming rejection by the American public. It's not just a question of will; Democrats lack a program and a coherent philosophy with which to fight the GOP. American national unity during the war on terror seemingly trumps all opposition.

Ironically, it is the very realization that it is American national unity itself that is under attack by the GOP during a time of war that presents Democrats with their best chance for victory in 2004. The American people, standing shoulder to shoulder against foreign foes, are being divided and splintered by a Republican public philosophy of market worship, the privatization or abandonment of traditional government roles and services, and a radical individualism. The Bush philosophy represents an all-out assault on common national purpose in the United States. Government not only can't solve problems, it has no moral claim on its citizens' participation in a shared national effort to try. At the end of the day, you're on your own in a Hobbesian struggle of each against all; the government's role is to stand aside and let you fight it out.

This Republican program seeks to undermine the traditional American social contract and create what can be called an "Opt Out Society." That is, the GOP will abrogate the unwritten agreements that have defined the national bargain for three generations, such as hard work in exchange for social mobility, commitment to public institutions in exchange for growing personal freedoms, and those disproportionately benefiting from the American system disproportionately contributing to its maintenance. Instead, conservatives push to privatize social services like education, health care, and retirement, while rewarding Americans for withdrawing their support from their country, their government, their communities, their schools - and each other.

This Republican program is the true threat Democrats must fight. They must, though, avoid the pitfalls of a purely populist campaign along the lines of Al Gore's doomed 2000 effort. Successfully highlighting the yawning chasm between the president's call for American unity abroad and the GOP assault on national unity at home is the opportunity for Democrats to win that fight in 2004.

1. Introducing the Opt Out Society
2. On Your Own: The Opt Out Society in Practice
3. Branding the Opt Out Society
4. Identity Politics and the Threat from the Left
5. A New American Bargain^TM: The Reciprocity Society^TM
6. The Reciprocity Society in Action