Years ago I saw Mortimer Adler on William F. Buckley's Firing Line. Adler said there were three fundamental political ideas, justice, liberty and equality. He introduced the idea that there is a correct balance between liberty, equality and justice. Because you can imagine a society with too much liberty or too much equality, these were important, but lesser political values than justice. It is impossible to even imagine a society with too much justice. The correct paradigm for any society, or any policy, is a triangle with justice at the apex and equality and liberty at the base.

America has become a society and a country with too little justice, too little liberty and too little equality. I threw this in because Alperovitz covers this idea by analyzing equality, liberty and Democracy, but he is examining the three fundamental political ideas.

We are at a political tipping point. Alperovitz is imagining a Progressive Opportunity Society and analyzing the fundamental political and economic changes that must occur to get the three great political ideas back in balance. The other choice is Bush's Selfishness Society based on greater inequality of wealth, less liberty and less justice.