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center for collaborative democracy
Grand
Bargain Project
Reuniting America around a Common-Sense Plan for Nationwide Prosperity
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Current Obstacles to Progress
Political Dysfunction
Our elections are structured so that candidates can win more easily by assailing the other side than by trying to bridge differences
Legislative Silos
Each law was enacted to satisfy some voters, interest groups and politicians. The laws contradict one another, limiting their effectiveness.
Minimal Collaboration
Well organized groups have more sway on Capitol Hill than the public. And all groups lack a forum for bridging differences.
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Steps to Circumvent these Obstacles
Grand
Bargain
Grand
Bargain
Proof of Concept
Various audiences, asked if they prefer the combined reforms over the country’s current direction, have overwhelmingly answered yes, including:
97%
of attendees at our Braver Angels workshop in June
93%
of major stakeholder organizations interviewed to date
92%
92 % of attendees at Young Presidents Organization meeting in August
85%
of high-profile political activists, left, right and center interviewed
Nothing else comes close. In effect, a grand bargain focusing on these six issues could unite far more of the country than anything else has in recent times.
Spark a Grassroots Movement
Various grassroots organizations are working with us to show their members how the grand bargain could unite Americans into a movement large enough to promote unprecedented progress in all six areas and reverse the downward slide of our democracy.
We are also using social-digital media to reach citizens who hunger for progress in these six areas, but feel powerless to affect change, the so-called “exhausted majority.” Our message: by uniting around a common-sense grand bargain, we would become a movement that at last exerts influence proportional to our numbers.
Expected Impact
A critical mass of Americans, influencers and stakeholders will increasingly unite around the grand bargain as a roadmap for our future.
The next election will likely be the most divisive in memory and could lead to chaos. The next President and Congress will then have every incentive to broaden their public support — by endorsing a practical plan for advancing the objectives that nearly every American sees as critical to them.
An ambitious goal. But no one else has offered a credible way to unite Americans from all walks of life around a practical plan to boost economic mobility, curb the debt, transition to clean energy, or attain the other key objectives.
We thereby need the grand bargain if the American people and our democracy are to thrive.
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