John Edwards for President-John Edwards' Plan To Build One America

John Edwards' Plan To Build One America

John Edwards is deeply committed to the Iowa caucuses and wants Iowans to have all the facts. He has outlined a bold, comprehensive agenda to stand up for working and middle-class families, restore America's moral leadership in the world, build a better future for the next generation, and provide opportunity for all.

Iowans can read more about John's plans below. Additionally, we have resources available on our Iowa website to help you spread the word about John's detailed policies:

Click here to download John's complete 80-page policy book: "The Plan to Build One America - Bold Solutions for Real Change" [pdf]
Click here to download individual issue policy papers that you can distribute to others in your community

I. Standing Up For Regular Families

In Depth

Today, Iowa families are working harder than ever just to make ends meet. John will stand up for hard-working families and make our government work for regular families, not powerful interests.

Forty-seven million Americans lack insurance and families and businesses are struggling to pay skyrocketing premiums. John has proposed a specific plan for truly universal health care that will take on the insurance and drug companies, cover every man, woman, and child in America, and get better care at lower cost.

As someone who grew up in small rural towns, John knows that America cannot turn its back on rural areas. Small towns and rural areas are the keepers of American values like family, work, community and freedom.

Middle-class wages have stagnated in recent years even as the economy has grown. John will reverse Bush's tax policies and trade policies that have increased the burdens on workers and help families save and get ahead.

II. Restoring America's Moral Leadership

In Depth

Our standing in the world has been badly tarnished in recent years. America must once again be looked up to and respected around the world.

John supports the immediate withdrawal of 40,000-50,000 troops from Iraq and the complete withdrawal of all combat troops from Iraq within nine to ten months. We must also lead on the great challenges like ending the genocide in Darfur and the conflict in Uganda and fighting global poverty and diseases like AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.

We must honor our lifelong commitment to those who sacrifice the most for our country. John will repair our sacred contract with America's military families and veterans.

A strong, principled national security policy is the foundation of America's strength. We must strengthen homeland security, stand by our soldiers at every turn, while respecting the Constitution and living up to our ideals in the fight against terrorism.

III. Building a Better Future for the Next Generation

In Depth

As John travels across Iowa, he hears a real concern that we could be the first generation of Americans that fails to leave our children a better future than our parents left us. John believes we must rise up and meet the great moral test of our generation - ensuring that our children have a better, more prosperous life than we've had.

Global warming is a crisis that could fundamentally change our planet, creating hundreds of millions of deaths and starvation. John will restore our energy independence by asking Americans to be patriotic about something other than war and building a new energy economy based on clean renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, America still has two school systems, separate and unequal. To give every child an opportunity to get ahead, John will invest in our teachers, educate our children for the challenges of the 21st century, and make college more affordable through College for Everyone.

Every day, 37 million Americans wake up in poverty. Personally committed to the cause of poverty, John has outlined an ambitious agenda to eliminate poverty within a generation.

IV. Opportunity for All

In Depth

The promise of America is a promise made to every American. John believes we need to create opportunity for all, so every man, woman, and child in Iowa and across the country has the chance to work hard and get ahead.

To build a larger, more secure middle class, John believes we must do more to strengthen families, help ensure fairness for women in the workplace and protect women's rights.

John's agenda for older Americans is based on the values of security, dignity and choice to help every older American live as independently as they desire.

John runs for president for a simple reason: he wants everyone in America, no matter who their parents are or what the color of their skin is, to have the chances he had to work hard and build a better life. He will fight against discrimination and intolerance in all forms.