Bridging & Civil Discourse—Next Step
Thousands of Organizations fitting the red/blue Bridging model and new or historical Civil Discourse groups find ways to give members hope that our government will find compromise and represent us.
I'm curious what folks who run bridging or civil discourse organizations see as the Next Step for your organizations.
Has anyone considered how distributed efforts of their respective groups could be federated into an effort that could be translated at the ballot box?
More honestly, I'm curious whether any of you are interested in a plan that could make that next step a nonpartisan campaign to leverage open party primaries.
We all see that the red and blue party messages have fallen short. 43 million Americans living in poverty and a government that is the largest in human history assimilating $4 Trillion a year just to maintain is an obvious failure.
We can't overcome a system built for two parties. We CAN supplement the hollow party messages, then elect red or blue party members who have expressed a commitment to moderate policy that reflects American values closer to the center.
Your respective Organizations give Americans HOPE by revealing that our American values transcend party labels. The inability of either party to cure problems or shape a government even remotely similar to the one promised is obvious. A unifying center has been missing for decades.
A supplemental message to Americans to consider in addition to whatever they believe their party stands for is needed. A candidate who pledges to represent the "affordable priorities" of most Americans while protecting the few could be considered as a potential candidate to represent the will of the people, rather than just a party label, parroting the party narrative and voting party line. After further vetting to verify their trustworthiness, that candidate could have a good chance of advancing to the November 2022 118th US Congress general election for their district.
Historically, Congressional Primaries are elections with a low turnout of party faithful who vote for the most partisan candidate from a field who have all peacocked away from the center to appear more partisan.
Low turnout and partisan positioning of primaries, I believe, makes them vulnerable. Any red or blue candidate who campaigns on a supplemental message of representing the will of the American people, with a commitment to moderate Congressional policy making, could be sent to their district's general election by a high turnout concerted by a central campaign, administered by States and districts.
The HOPE that bridging and civil discourse organizations give Americans can INSPIRE support of this action. Sharing a VISION of the way things could grow ENTHUSIASM to vote and we can show ALL Americans their vote matters. Isn’t that what any of us really wants?