When the Republican Party won control of both houses of Congress in 2002, the view that "values matter," once marginal in Democratic circles, suddenly became the talk of the town. To be sure, some analysts continued to argue that the Democrats had plenty of good policy ideas and simply required a better campaign strategy and effective policymaking once in office. But a new conversation had started, beginning from the premise that Democratic success depended on reclaiming the moral high ground.

John Kerry's defeat in 2004, assumed by many to be the product of perceived Democratic deficiencies in "moral values," gave this conversation renewed energy. And while some in the "new values" camp pointed to the importance of a specifically religious morality, others urged the Democrats to focus on a secular but morally demanding vision of the common good. In spring 2006 Michael Tomasky argued in The American Prospect that the Democratic Party should restore the idea of the "common good" to its proper place at the core of the party's political identity. This argument provoked a widespread debate, and the term is now increasingly visible in the liberal apparatus of bloggers, think tanks, and even consulting groups.

The idea of the common good is the right place to start, but it is not well understood. More often than not it is used as a decorative term, a sound bite. Consider even Tomasky's description: the liberalism of the Democratic Party, brought to power by Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and upheld for three decades thereafter, "was built around the idea—the philosophical principle—that citizens should be called upon to look beyond their own self-interest and work for a greater common interest." As a definition of the common-good tradition, this is uncontroversial if somewhat redundant. Probing further, however, he describes the common good as the "moral basis of liberal governance—not justice, not equality, not rights, not diversity, not government, and not even prosperity or opportunity." The contrast he ultimately makes here, separating the common good from concepts of justice, equality, and rights, is jarring, and the argument loses its bearing. In what seems a throwaway line, it becomes clear why. The common good, he claims, is a matter of "faith" rather than ideology—but "not religious faith." It's about "faith in America and its potential to do good." [...]