The Agenda for a New America: An Intro
Rebuilding the American Dream for the 21st Century
The American Reality. Recent polls confirm that the majority of the American people believe that the U.S. Government is fundamentally broken. Our global leadership is waning in critical areas from student test scores and economic competitiveness to public safety and life expectancy. Our infrastructure is crumbling before our eyes. Government institutions, bloated from generations of accretive growth, are debilitated by run-away bureaucracies with little or no accountability to the American people for advancing their objectives. All the while, our national debt soars as we spend more to achieve less than our international counterparts.
From the boardroom to the classroom, there is a pervasive sense of helplessness and anxiety among the American people. They see a dysfunctional government held hostage by divisive partisan ideology and entrenched interests that have “gamed the system” at the expense of the common good of the nation. Now, even our democratic processes are under attack by foreign powers. With the national debt approaching an all-time high and no end in sight.
After a quarter millennium, the great American Experiment in self-governance “of the people, by the people and for the people” is in some peril. In business terms, it is time for a quarterly review; a serious examination and restructuring to secure the American Dream for us and our posterity. We are not subjects of a monarch; we are shareholders in a nation. Our citizenship gives us a vested interest, but also a responsibility to preserve and protect both our freedom and the opportunity to pursue happiness.
The State of the American Dream. The great promise of America is the self-evident truth that we are all created equal with inalienable rights. The founders of our country believed that these core principles are essential to the flourishing of the human spirit and the establishment of a stable, prosperous society. Each generation has defined their own version of the AMERICAN DREAM, but the underlying principles of Freedom and Opportunity have endured.
The American experiment promised that a country built on these principles would enable all to transcend the circumstances of their birth, with the promise that their children would have the opportunity to “do better” than they did. Our ancestors toiled and sacrificed, innovated and inspired, fought and died – all to preserve and protect the idea of America for themselves and their posterity.
It is, however, incumbent upon each generation to ensure that the American Dream is protected. For the first time in our history, the majority of American parents do not think their kids will be better off than they are. The circumstances of a person’s birth are becoming more and more determinant of their destiny. All the while, the country appears hopelessly polarized; swinging from one extreme to the other having lost the sense of unity, collective purpose and pride of knowing we are in fact the guiding light of the world.
The American Millennium Society. Founded on the 225th anniversary of the adjournment of the Constitutional Convention, the American Millennium Society is a non-partisan, non-ideological, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to using American principles to define and advance the achievement of the American Dream in the 21st century. The Society defines the missions of public and charitable institutions in terms upon which the vast majority of Americans would agree, clarifies the value in achieving those goals and formulates practical strategies to restructure and vector all available resources to deliver results with the highest return on the investments made.
Transcending the contemporary political debate by convening the best of our nation’s wealth of talent and enabling a robust, wide-ranging, and realistic discussion about the nation’s long-term, systemic challenges, the Society is unfettered by ideological or political constraints that create the false impression that our nation is divided. We enable the restructuring of public institutions using data-driven analysis and the most advanced management science techniques that have been proven in the private sector. Dedicated to the singular goal of advancing the interests of American citizens, the Society will work to gain their support for modernizing our public institutions to assure American Dream is a reality for the next quarter millennium.
The Agenda for a New America
The American Millennium Society’s Agenda for a New America endeavors to take a careful and honest look at where we are as a nation find the path that will assure the American Dream lives on in the 21st century. Each of us as citizens has the power to be a part of changing the game – but we need to understand the playing field, and be prepared to establish new rules for ourselves, our communities, and our public institutions.
Using the fundamental principles of freedom and opportunity as the cornerstone of American prosperity, the society supports comprehensive solutions redefine the American Dream for the 21st century. Our mission to enable “We, the People” to bring this to life so that the people of every community can live the American Dream.
The Freedom to enjoy our inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness– not rights granted to us by kings or dictators.
The Opportunity for each of us to make our own way. The great promise of America is the self-evident truth that we are all created equal.
1.
Reclaim our Citizenship. We the People are not subjects; we are the shareholders of this nation and public officials work for us. We must take the reins of responsibility and assert our rights as citizens. This requires informed civil discourse and debate with all interested parties on practical solutions to structure public institutions to meet global challenges and increase American competitiveness.
2.
Advance American Interests. We will insist that our common interests be articulated in terms that the vast majority of Americans can agree on in every category.
3.
Resolve to Solve. Stop just “working on things” and actually formulate strategies to “solve” our issues and achieve our common interests.
4.
Vector to Victory. Leverage the talent and resources of our people, our communities, our philanthropies and our institutions to develop comprehensive plans and well-structured ecosystems that are vectored to accelerate progress toward our collective goals.
5.
Restore Competence. Build institutions that are fit to purpose and insist that government deliver on what we need government to do – no more no less – an enable all other sectors to pursue the American Dream. Public officials must be competent and accountable to achieve these outcomes and get the maximum value for the money we allow them to spend.
The Approach: Another Way to Say It
The Agenda for a New America will be developed for local, city, state, and national applications.
Articulate the Objective that the Vast Majority of Americans Support
Use the founding principles of the United States to articulate the local, state, and national objectives that the vast majority of Americans support.
Engage and Collaborate
Inform and encourage civil discourse and debate with all interested parties on practical solutions to structure public institutions to meet global challenges and increase American competitiveness.
Define the Value-added role of Government
Assess all of the assets (including government, private, non-profit and community resources) available to meet these objectives and collaborate to define the value-added role of the government and NGOs in the execution.
Vector the Resources
Provide frameworks for informing, funding, and financing decisions using both tangible and intangible valuation to enable prioritization of policies with the greatest overall returns to the constituencies making the investments.
Identify Comprehensive Solutions
Develop rigorous, independent, and quantitative analyses to analyze the effects of coordinated public action and tie investments/spending to value created.
Create Accountability for Return on Investment
Foster a new definition of public accountability for producing a return on the investments in government, public and non-profit institutions to the United States citizenry.