Stronger Together
A Blueprint for America's Future
by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Tim Kaine


(Click for Amazon book review)

BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:

Stronger Together: A Blueprint for America's Future is the 2016 campaign book for the Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine campaign. In one sense it represents the path not taken, as the Electoral College handed the presidency to Donald Trump. In another sense its insistence in spelling out policies across the board and in detail represents the clearest difference between contemporary Democrats and Republicans.

Democrats are the party of policy wonks, whether moderate, liberal or "progressive," who believe that government is part of the solution not the problem. Other than packing the courts with conservatives, Republicans are the party of less: cutting taxes, deregulating, privatizing. This is a matter of fact, not partisanship. Compare the 2020 Democratic platform (https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/party-platform/) with the 2020 Republican convention not even producing one (https://prod-cdn-static.gop.com/docs/Resolution_Platform_2020.pdf).

Looking at the Clinton/Kaine policy book now allows comparison with not only the actions of the Trump administration, but with the policies and proposals now being proposed under the Biden administration. Perhaps the eeriest section to read is the one on "Global health and pandemics." [p. 151-152] Clinton/Kaine reference things like the Ebola and Zika viruses three years before COVID-19 even existed, but one can't help but wonder how events might have unfolded under a President Hillary Clinton: "We need to break the cycle in which our own public health system is beholden to emergency appropriations for specific epidemics, lacking the long-term budget certainty needed to shore up our defenses for the long term, accelerate development of vaccines and new treatments, and keep our people safe."

On both domestic and foreign policy, the proposals are neither radical nor "Socialist"--both Clinton and Biden defeated Bernie Sanders for their respective nominations--but mainstream Democratic proposals: expanding childcare including universal pre-K, building on the Affordable Care Act (but not "single payer"), and transitioning to a post-fossil fuel economy. Many of these are still being debated, but it's hard to disagree that Biden delivered on Clinton's promise for a massive investment in infrastructure: "Connecting every household to affordable broadband...," "Building the transportation system of tomorrow," "Rebuilding our water systems to protect public health." [p. 14-18]

One probably has to be a policy wonk to want to read the several years old proposals of a failed presidential campaign, yet in illuminating the positions of the 2016 Democratic nominees, it serves to set forth what they believed were mainstream ideas. It also provides the means for those inside and outside the party to differentiate themselves if they feel such policies go too far or don't go far enough.

-- Daniel M. Kimmel, Oct. 2022

OnTheIssues.org excerpts:  (click on issues for details)

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2024 primary contenders' book excerpts:
• The Vanishing American Adult, by Sen. Ben Sasse
• The Faith of Mike Pence, by Leslie Montgomery
• The Courage to Be Free, by Gov. Ron DeSantis
• The Contender, by Michael Shnayerson (biography of Gov. Andrew Cuomo)
• Stronger Together: A Blueprint for America's Future, by the Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine campaign
• A Most Disorderly Court: Scandal and Reform in the Florida Judiciary, by Martin A. Dyckman
• The Faith of Mike Pence, by Leslie Montgomery
• Where You Go: Life Lessons from My Father, by Charlotte Pence
• The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis, by Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse
• The Diversity Myth: Multiculturism and Political Intolerance, by David O. Sacks & Peter Thiel
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, by Peter Thiel and Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters