Editor’s Note
Welcome to The States Forum!
- By Michael Laskawy
A debut issue is always both exciting and anxiety inducing. But in this case, we are unfortunately publishing at a moment when anxiety for all Americans who care about the state of our democracy is much in the air.
Our central goal with The States Forum—with the journal you are reading, the convening we’ve organized around its launch, and our work to build a network of engaged thinkers—is to point a path out of the fragile moment in which we find ourselves.
To do so requires looking back to our founding. The Declaration of Independence promised that all people are created equal with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that these rights are secured by government, with the consent of the governed. This has been the foundation of our progress and remains the essential element of our national, though not yet fully realized, vision. It is the basis of what we call the American Promise: representative democracy, effective government, fair markets, and personal freedom.
It is also a foundational belief system, as self-evident in its truth as it was two and half centuries ago.
As our name suggests, we believe that in order to fulfill this promise, it is imperative to turn to the states—keystones of our constitutional system where opportunities for thoughtful policy innovation to change the country’s overall direction remain alive and well. And so the articles in this journal are focused on what states can and should be doing, according to each author, to achieve the American Promise.
It is no coincidence that our inaugural issue is launching in Philadelphia, in the closely contested Keystone State, at the beginning of a year-long celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday. In the first essay in this collection, our cofounders, Adam Pritzker and Daniel Squadron, explain why the American Promise and the four key principles that derive from it—representative democracy, effective government, fair markets, and personal freedom—are essential for winning over the American people with a compelling brand, policies they want to buy, and authentic ways to reach them where they are.
As they write, we need ideas—a lot of them. And that is what you will find in these pages—a variety of ideas across a host of issues, all in response to a single question: How can we achieve our founding promise of representative democracy, effective government, fair markets, and personal freedom in the states?
From Danielle Allen, Joel Rogers, and Tim Ryan, you will read about the need to rethink our politics in their entirety: to be creative and bold and to set our fears aside.
Marc Dunkelman, Adam Jentleson, Lauren Harper Pope, and Matthew Yglesias all make the essential point that we need to focus on what exactly we are seeking to achieve. When we get trapped in process and politics as usual, it can too easily serve the interests of those most closely attached to the status quo, neglecting to provide for the people, and generating the very dissatisfaction that creates a death spiral for the American Promise.
Essays by Rachael Bedard, Saha Guerrero, Ilyse Hogue, and Matt Morrison remind us that real democracy requires us to listen to what Americans are actually saying—what they care about, what they aspire to, and why so many of them are so distrustful and dismayed by the system and their place within it.
The pieces by state policymakers Michelle Maldonado, Howard Watts, and Cisco Aguilar explore opportunities to creatively address pressing issues and to meaningfully improve the lives of their constituents.
You will find a host of state policy ideas from Jake Auchincloss, Jonathan Gruber, Vicki Been, and Helen Ketema on creating more affordable housing; Jennifer Pahlka on using technology to make government truly effective; Rohit Chopra, Robert Currie, and Claire Kelloway on protecting consumers in a time of rising prices; Alex Hertel-Fernandez on restoring trust in government; Patrick Cooney on how to make college a viable pathway for more young people; and Pamela Bookman on reforming state courts to provide a fairer system for everyone.
We are grateful to each contributor, and look forward to debating how well each of their pieces reflects the essential principles of representative democracy, effective government, fair markets, and personal freedom that the Declaration of Independence promised 249 years ago.
Let the debate—and our celebration of the 250th year of the American Promise—begin!
About The Author
Michael Laskawy, Editor in Chief
