In these times, change is not an option. It's an imperative. In plain terms informed by four decades in public service, Aaron Jaffe analyzes how the distancing of the people from their politics, our leaders' penchant for taking the easy way out, and the hyperpartisan, shout-fest culture have yielded the current American predicament. Born during the Great Depression, Jaffe has lived his own American dream. His immigrant father told him: "I'm laying the foundation for you, so you can build the first floor and rise in society. Your children will build the second floor, and so on." However, Jaffe writes, unless Americans take action, we will have a harder and harder time keeping our footing on the same floor of the house. And that house is the American dream.