[Futurework] The Real State of the Union

[Karen Watters Cole]

In case you haven’t seen this, the Atlantic Monthly and New American Foundation (a Washington DC think tank) have combined forces for a symposium in print called “The Real State of the Union”.  You can check out the individual fifteen essays at their website, below.  Supposedly, none of the authors have a political axe to grind, as do members of the Bush regime making the rounds trying to gain support for the 2003 “Stimulus” plan.     http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/01/union.htm   Here is what David Broder, the “dean of national journalists” had to say about the effort: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25040-2003Jan21.html excerpt from State of the Homeland: “The 15 short essays, outlining domestic challenges facing the nation and proposing unconventional ways of dealing with them, comprise an exhilarating and mind-stretching way of thinking about where the United States stands at this moment. …The message of these essays is that this gap not only threatens the growth of a healthy middle class but also contributes to the worrisome loss of social trust among Americans. Republicans continually decry "class warfare" rhetoric from their opponents, but the Atlantic Monthly essays show how current and proposed tax policies are sharpening class lines. In the final essay, Ted Halstead, the founder and head of the New America Foundation, describes "the American paradox" -- the richest, most powerful nation suffering from "higher rates of poverty, infant mortality, homicide and HIV infection, and from greater income inequality, than other advanced democracies." Rebuilding a solid center for such a nation, he says, will require a new "social contract," protecting economic freedom and flexibility but seeking social fairness. This project -- which is to be repeated by the magazine annually -- represents a serious start in that direction. Karen Watters Cole East of Portland, West of Mt Hood Outgoing mail scanned by NAV 2002