Progressive writers and pundits --
myself included -- have fallen into the habit of defining the suite of
comprehensive health care, labor, and social insurance policies necessary to promote
shared prosperity and social inclusion in America as the "Next New Deal."
First and foremost, this rubric refers to the dire need to restore a collective
commitment to public spending in the United States in order to foster economic
and social conditions that support a functional democracy. But it also draws on
the understanding that real progress demands political courage and "new"
thinking -- a conscious, if not complete, rejection of political beliefs and
practices that have historically exacerbated disparities in wellbeing and opportunity
between the nation's haves and have-nots.
