Code Red

How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite to Save Our Country

E. J. Dionne, E.J. Dionne

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781250256478
• eBook ISBN: 9781250256485
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Politics & International Relations

"An exquisitely timed book ... Code Red is a worthwhile exploration of the shared goals (and shared enemies) that unite moderates and progressives. But more than that, it is a sharp reminder that the common ground on which Dionne built his career has been badly eroded, with little prospect that it will soon be restored." — The New York Times Book Review
New York Times bestselling author and Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne, Jr. sounds the alarm in Code Red , calling for an alliance between progressives and moderates to seize the moment and restore hope to America's future for the 2020 presidential election.

Will progressives and moderates feud while America burns? Or will these natural allies take advantage of the greatest opportunity since the New Deal Era to strengthen American democracy, foster social justice, and turn back the threats of the Trump Era?
The United States stands at a crossroads. Broad and principled opposition to Donald Trump's presidency has drawn millions of previously disengaged citizens to the public square and to the ballot boxes. This inspired and growing activism for social and political change hasn't been seen since the days of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal policies and the Progressive and Civil Rights movements. But if progressives and moderates are unable—and unwilling—to overcome their differences, they could not only enable Trump to prevail again but also squander an occasion for launching a new era of reform.
In Code Red, award-winning journalist E. J. Dionne, Jr., calls for a shared commitment to decency and a politics focused on freedom, fairness, and the future, encouraging progressives and moderates to explore common ground and expand the unity that brought about Democrat victories in the 2018 elections. He offers a unifying model for furthering progress with a Politics of Remedy, Dignity, and More: one that solves problems, resolve disputes, and moves forward; that sits at the heart of the demands for justice by both long-marginalized and recently-displaced groups; and that posits a positive future for Americans with more covered by health insurance, more with decent wages, more with good schools, more security from gun violence, more action to roll back climate change.
Breaking through the partisan noise and cutting against conventional wisdom to provide a realistic look at political possibilities, Dionne offers a strategy for progressives and moderates to think more clearly and accept the responsibilities that history now imposes on them. Because at this point in our national story, change can't wait.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Notice
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Introduction: The Opportunity We Dare Not Miss
• 1. The Power of 60 Million Votes: Understanding What the 2018 Election Taught Us
• 2. Missing in Action: Radicalized Republicans and the Problem with Bipartisanship
• 3. Progressivism’s Crooked Path: A Short History of Circular Firing Squads and Enduring Achievements
• 4. Are the Socialists Coming?: The Collapse of the Reagan Consensus and the Urgency of Economic Renewal
• 5. The Clinton and Obama Legacies: The Unfinished Work and Blind Spots of Two Successful Presidencies
• 6. Getting from Here to There: Visionary Gradualism and the Economics of Dignity
• 7. Out of Many … What, Exactly?: The Politics of Recognition and the Politics of Class
• 8. “Take Back Control”: Nationalism, Patriotism, and Solidarity
• 9. Who in the World Are We?: A Foreign Policy for Democracy—and Main Street
• 10. Why Change Can’t Wait: And Why It Takes a Coalition to Save a Country
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index
• Also by E. J. Dionne, Jr.
• About the Author
• Newsletter Sign-up
• Contents
• Copyright