Democracy in America Project

To engage large numbers of Americans in the process of authentic, healthy dialogue across differences.
To reunite American people, knowledge, issues, and interests by re-establishing trust, respect and communication across political boundaries.
To model, in practice, the ideals of a democratic republic by facilitating cooperative, enduring, higher ground solutions to the challenges of our time.
To welcome all points of view to the same table with respect, safety and civility, at all levels of society, across the divides of geography, partisanship, religion, race, class, and power.

VALUES

Empowered citizenship, civility, honesty, trust, responsibility.

MISSION

Convene – gather a “microcosm of America” (i.e. leaders/experts/citizens -- all points of view) in facilitated dialogue in small and large settings across America.
Align – align around a shared vision
Strategy – create aligned strategies for addressing shared concerns
Act – support effective action

THEORY FOR CHANGE

At this unique time in our history the need for large-scale, transpartisan -- left, right, center -- political re-integration is rapidly emerging. To re-unite America as a functioning "democratic republic" that balances and integrates the ideals of a democracy -- freedom, equality, and protection of the common good -- with the values of a republic -- order, responsibility and efficiency -- requires the establishment of new means for ongoing citizen and leader/expert re-engagement external to the current "red-blue" political system.

Ongoing transpartisan citizen and leader/expert re-engagement is the necessary condition for fairly balancing and integrating all interests -- general interest with special interests -- into policy solutions that work for all.

Transpartisan re-engagement is beginning to be achieved by convening two types of gatherings outside of the current institutions of politics and governance: facilitated leader and expert policy retreats integrated with citizen town halls, citizen forums, citizen wisdom councils, citizen juries, and "meetups."

The power and systemic influence of this "political reunion" is expressed by the facts that it:

Is transpartisan -- i.e. a "microcosm of America" (includes and honors all points of view.)
Is a growing national policy conversation external to the current "red-blue" political system oriented toward "what we are for" as opposed to "what we are against."
Unites the power of people and ideas with the power of the dialogue process.
Is non-coercive ( i.e. doesn't "lobby the government"), its influence is moral in nature.
Occurs on a wide scale and at multiple levels.
Generates balanced policy solutions through the re-integration of people, knowledge, issues, and interests that 80+ percent of Americans will say "Yes!" to.
Models, in practice, the ideals, values, and principles of a democratic republic by creating, ongoing, feedback loops between the "We the People" -- we the left, we the right, and we the center -- and leaders/policy experts.