Government and change in America. The danger of an ideology ; The evidence ; Looking-back narratives from the right and left ; The myth of laissez-faire ; The many uses of government in the 1800s ; Government as an agent of change in the 1900s ; The economic benefits of government ; Resisting a pragmatic government

How much we have changed. The history of change ; The new challenge to the standard of living ; The broad threat to the American promise ; It's not just inequality ; When knowledge also changes ; The purpose of government ; Forsaking pragmatism for ideology

What to do. Pessimism in America ; The failure of conventional wisdom ; America has the money ; An agenda.