The new American story / Bill Bradley.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The story we're told -- Heritage -- America's role in the world -- The economy -- Oil and the environment -- Pensions -- Health care -- Education -- Politics -- Why Republicans can't -- Why Democrats don't -- Why the new story is good politics -- What citizens can do.

Politics is stuck, writes Bill Bradley, in this insightful, informative, and provocative book about America at a crossroads, but "idealism isn't dead. It can be reawakened." Bradley believes that America is at a teachable moment when we are compelled to reevaluate our political system, our leadership, our agenda as a nation, and ourselves as citizens. He explores what changes need to be made in our parties, in our politics, and in citizen activism to ensure America's future, and suggests that the party that chooses to embrace this will be in power for a generation. Now more than ever, he says, we need to embrace an "ethic of connectedness," a combination of collective action and individual responsibility, to solve our nation's most pressing problems, and he argues that the fate of all countries is bound together as never before.--From publisher description.