With the growth of the U.S national government under the Obama administration, the perennial debate over where to draw the line between public and private has come to the fore yet again. This time around, however, the stakes are higher than ever as unprecedented amounts of public money are poured into private corporations. Are these arguments specific to policy and community, or do they reveal something bigger about politics and society? Having conducted hundreds of interviews with policymakers and advocates, Stark weaves that input with his own innovative insights into a counterintuitive view on how citizens at the grassroots level divide up in policy debates - e.g, on education, land use, health care, and welfare-over the line between public and private responsibility. In doing so, the book provides striking Main Street lessons on creating new policy coalitions.