One-party fate.

• Author: LeTourneau, Nancy
• Position: America Ascendant: A Revolutionary Nation's Path to Addressing Its Deepest Problems and Leading the 21st Century - Book review

America Ascendant: A Revolutionary Nation's Path to Addressing Its Deepest Problems and Leading the 21st Century

by Stanley B. Greenberg

Thomas Dunne Books, 416 pp.

America's potential is far greater than most of us realize. But with the GOP in turmoil, it's up to Democrats to produce the reform agenda that can unleash it.

There is a reason why the opening line of Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities--"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times"--has been quoted so often that it has become almost cliche. But take a look at how it continues: "[I]t was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair...."

Such was the way that Dickens described the cities of Paris and London during the French Revolution. In his book America Ascendant: A Revolutionary Nation's Path to Addressing Its Deepest Problems, the Democratic pollster and political strategist Stanley B. Greenberg posits that the United States is facing a moment much like the one Dickens described.

Greenberg does an excellent job highlighting why this is "the best of times." He identifies revolutions that are about both America's economic ascendancy and our cultural exceptionalism. With the advent of renewable energy sources and natural gas, we are in the midst of an energy revolution. Our immigration revolution is key to America's economic vitality, competitiveness, and growth. As home to the great research universities, we are leading the world in high-tech, aerospace, and creative industries. The growth of metropolitan areas in this country has made them the engines of economic prosperity and social transformation. In the vanguard of our metropolitan areas are the Millennials, the generation that is driving transformative change. Finally, Greenberg notes that "America is racially blended, immigrant, multinational, multilingual, and religiously pluralistic, and that is becoming more and more central to our national identity."

But revolutions are all about change. And it is in that change that "the worst of times" materializes--both because of its demands for adaptation and the backlash that is sparked.

And so, Greenberg notes that globalization has led to a loss of American manufacturing jobs, which has marginalized working-class men. Marriage is on the decline, and more women are raising children on their own. With growth in metropolitan areas, the divide between urban and rural has widened. With increasing diversity has come the fear among white conservatives that "racial minorities will use their hold over government to discriminate against whites." He posits that these changes challenge our values and have therefore ignited a counterrevolution--thus providing an explanation for our current political polarization. Rather than adapt, the Republican Party has drilled down on appeals that animate an ever-shrinking portion of the electorate.

"The Republican Party is in a death spiral that will mean the end of the Grand Old Party as we know it," writes Greenberg. "The party will...