Positively American: Winning Back the Middle-Class Majority One Family at a Time - Tapa dura

New York's popular senior senator, who won reelection by the largest margin in the state's history, offers a bold plan for change in the Democratic party

As the results of the last presidential election played out, it became clear that while Democrats call themselves the party of the middle, the middle class does not consider the Democrats their party. Now, Chuck Schumer, who has gained national prominence as the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and as a member of the Finance Committee, offers his plan for capturing the middle-class vote and moving his party back into the majority. Democrats can accomplish this, the senator explains, without abandoning their traditional principles.

Schumer envisions a hypothetical, average middle-class American family—he thinks of them as "The Baileys"—who spend "as much time talking about the cost of cornflakes as the cost of the national debt." He then details specific proposals he believes would keep America safe, secure, and on top; and support the aspirations of a prosperous and growing middle class while speaking to anxieties created in a world changed by technology and globalization. For example, he proposes to:

· increase the number of college graduates by 50%

· reduce property taxes by 50%

CHUCK SCHUMER was elected to the New York State Assembly at age 23—making him one of the youngest members since Theodore Roosevelt—and to Congress at age 29. In 1998 he became New York's junior senator, and he now holds the senior position. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife. They have two daughters.