Better Than Politics As Usual

Our Common Purpose is an alternative to the zero-sum game that our political system has become.

We are caught in a classic case of win-lose.  Come November, one party and its diehard supporters will win.  They will be ecstatic.  The other party and its diehard supporters will lose.  They will be despondent, or worse.

The reactions will be pronounced because the stakes are high.  Part of the agitation has to do with the candidates.  Beyond that, the agendas of the two parties are more than the other side can bear.

Swinging back and forth one election to the next from one extreme to the other has its consequences.  Regardless of which party wins any particular election, the abrupt changes of direction, about-faces, doing only to undo is in the long run a losing proposition.  America loses.

Our Common Purpose suggests a different course, proposing that even in this state of advanced disfunction we can find middle ground that reaches out to all.  In this scenario, America certainly would win.

The overarching agenda of “10 Principles to Unite America” draws from both sides of the political spectrum.  Neither side will be 100 percent winners.  Neither though will either side be 100 percent losers.  The principles quite deliberately seek to reconcile the opposing views by making tradeoffs that are acceptable to significant numbers on both sides.

As an example, let’s look briefly at Principle #4 Give Us Liberty, Though Not To Harm Others.  Learn more about this principle.

“Give us liberty” is seen as a conservative rallying cry for individual freedom.  Liberals hesitate at the thought because of their belief in our collective responsibility to each other.

But what happens when you balance one with the other, by combining the competing thoughts of Give Us Liberty, Though Not To Harm Others?

Good things happen.  The most recent round of nationwide public opinion surveys conducted in June for Our Common Purpose showed that 77% of self-identified liberals strongly agreed with this particular principle.  As did 68% of conservatives.  This is not a win-lose proposition.  It’s a win-win.

That’s the spirit of Our Common Purpose.  It should be the spirit of the entire political process.

What broadly speaking can we undertake to find middle ground where all or at least most of us will come out ahead?  If we can progress in that direction, the country will be the big winner.