Overview
As a nation, collectively and as individuals, many are focusing 90% of their energy on the 10% of things that we disagree on rather than the 90% that we agree on. As has been said repeatedly, what unites us is greater than what divides us.
Our country faces many challenges. We could list the top 100 in order of priority. At the top of the list are social needs and societal threats that most of us would be willing to cooperatively work together to address. Different proposals of similar effectiveness and outcome are likely to be embraced by many people who have shared goals.
There are some bipartisan efforts attempting to bring people together for the common good and solve pressing challenges. Here are a few examples.
- Braver Angels (formerly Better Angels) — “Our work is about restoring civic trust in the USA. It is about healing the wounds between left and right. It is about challenging institutions to be better, building community together, and discovering what it means to be American in our time.” [More…]
- The Atlantic, David A. Graham, 29 Dec 2018. “What is intriguing about Better Angels [now Braver Angels] is that it isn’t seeking to formulate a broadly acceptable centrist platform, nor appeal to the vast middle who (Americans are told) really truly just want the country to work. It’s not trying to end partisanship; the group’s very concept, with its red versus blue structure, presupposes polarity. Its premise is not that everyone needs to agree, but simply that they need to be able to talk to one another, and that such a skill has been lost. That seems more manageable and realistic than getting everyone to see eye to eye on policies, but it’s still no easy feat—and even if the group is successful, is fostering an open dialogue within a polarized system enough to fix American politics?” [More…]
- No Labels — “No Labels ensures your voice is heard in politics. We embrace the new politics of problem solving and support courageous leaders pushing back on the extremes and pushing forward solutions to America’s great challenges. … No Labels brings leaders to the middle where problems get solved; work gets done for you; solutions are turned on. We are not a third party, but rather a third bloc – a coalition of real people from every neighborhood in America determined to forge solutions on the issues we are facing, from the economy to health care, jobs to climate change, gun safety to immigration, infrastructure, the national debt, and beyond.” [More…]
- Wikipedia — “No Labels is an American political organization whose stated mission is to combat partisan dysfunction in politics and build a bi-partisan governing coalition. It promoted the creation of the House Problem Solvers Caucus which has 50 members, evenly divided between Republican and Democrats to forge bipartisan cooperation on key issues. It is also working on building a similar bi-partisan working group in the Senate.” [More…]
- Problem Solvers — “No Labels sees a Problem Solver as a leader who is both principled and pragmatic. They recognize that America’s checks-and-balances system of government enables no party to run roughshod over the other and enact an agenda on its own. They know the only way to create durable change that improves people’s lives is to find common ground between our parties.” [More…]
- Wikipedia — “The Problem Solvers Caucus is a bipartisan group in the United States House of Representatives that includes 50 members, equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, who seek to foster bipartisan cooperation on key policy issues. Created in January 2017, the group is currently co-chaired by Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Tom Reed (R-NY).” [More…]
Further Reading
Here is some further reading related to this topic.