This work is a comprehensive introduction to the most important issues facing American citizens and their government. It addresses various interpretations of the proper role of government with a view towards the Democrats re-working of such integral issues as: · States' rights · Societal affluence and social needs · Campaign finance reform · Media Consolidation · America's climbing debt ceiling · China's military and political expansion · Manufacturing's decline · Job outsourcing · The disappearance of pension plans · The whittling away of America's middle class · America's inadequate health care system · Environmental degradation · America's vanishing family farms