We will offer a new opportunity agenda that secures the pillars of the American Dream:
- Every American should have the opportunity and responsibility to go to college and earn a degree, and to get the lifelong training they need.
- Every worker should have the opportunity and responsibility to save for a secure retirement.
- Every business should have the opportunity to grow and prosper in the strongest private economy on Earth, and the responsibility to equip workers with the same tools of success as management.
- Every individual should have the opportunity and responsibility to start building wealth from day one, and the security and community that come from owning a home.
- Every family should have the opportunity to afford health insurance for their children, and the responsibility to obtain it.
Of all the aspirations that make up the American Dream, perhaps the most important is the opportunity to go to college. College is the key to whether America will get ahead in a competitive world, and whether we can expand and strengthen the middle class here at home.
We propose a plan to produce one million more college graduates a year by 2015 -- so that within a decade, more than half our young people will finish college with a degree. Paid for by getting rid of wasteful business subsidies, our plan consolidates existing tax credits into a new $3,000 refundable tax credit for four years of college or training, and proposes a performance-based block grant that will enable states to reduce tuition costs and increase graduation rates. Together, these ideas will make it possible for any student willing to work part-time or perform community service to go to college for four years tuition-free.
The Pillars of the American Dream
The pillars of the American Dream -- a college degree, a home, a secure retirement, and the chance to get ahead in a growing economy -- are central to our basic values. When we demand responsibility, it makes our families, our markets, and our democracy stronger. When our success depends on how hard we work, not how well we're born, there is no limit to how high we'll reach or how far we'll go.
America needs a new direction steeped in our oldest values. The struggles of the last few years are America's past, not America's future. The American Dream has just begun.
