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The Grand bargain Advances six critical Objectives
Economic Mobility
Boosting economic mobility and growth
Climate Change
Powering the economy with clean energy
Education
Reforming education so students reach their potential
National Debt
Curbing the national debt
Health Care
Making healthcare more effective and less costly
Tax Code
Making the tax code fairer and simpler
Why these issues have been impossible to resolve
Dysfunctional Political System
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 thereby contradict one another, severely limiting their effectiveness.
no forum for collaboration
Well-organized groups have more influence on Capitol Hill than a disorganized public, and all lack a forum for bridging differences.
Loss aversion
Voters who fear they will lose ground from major reform fight against it much harder than potential beneficiaries work to enact it.
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Strategy
how to overcome these barriers
Bypass Washington’s dysfunctions and remove legislative silos — by enlisting 13 top former federal officials and think leaders to replace contradictory laws in each area with common-sense reforms.
Refine the combined reforms until confident that every sector of society would significantly benefit.
Constantly update the evolving grand bargain with input from citizens, civic leaders and stakeholders in the six areas.
Engage the American people in group meetings and online to create a grassroots movement for positive change
Project timeline
Key Phases of the Grand Bargain Project
By dividing the project into distinct phases, we focus our efforts into measurable outcomes toward our overarching goals.
Done: 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 % of attendees at Young Presidents Organization meeting in August
80+% of high-profile political activists, left, right and center interviewed
In effect, a grand bargain focusing on these six issues could unite far more
of the country than anything else has in recent times.
In-Progress: Spark a Grassroot Movement
Various grassroots organizations are working with us to show their members how
the grand bargain could unite most 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 Outcomes and Impact
A critical mass of Americans, influencers and stakeholders will increasingly unite
around the grand bargain as a roadmap for our future.
After a historically divisive election, the next President and Congress will have
every incentive to seek strong 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 left, right and center; young and old, white and of color; coastal
and heartland.
We thereby need the grand bargain if the American people and our democracy
are to thrive.
Center for collaborative democracy
Sponsor of the Grand Bargain Project. We strive to help every American reach their potential by working with business leaders, consumer advocates, labor unions, environmentalists, civil rights groups and other major stakeholders to develop innovative solutions for our nation’s most critical problems. We see that process as necessary to reduce the hyper-polarization that threatens our democracy.
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