Issue One

A New Dawn. A Great Reset for Our Democracy Awaits This morning, America has reason to lift its eyes and shed its cynical skin. After so much darkness, last night’s elections opened a window toward something brighter: a country where we can recognize one another again. Where we have a chance to sit at the same table, begin facing the same facts, and undertake the extraordinary work of governing ourselves out of a world of problems. We should let ourselves feel that hope. A massive, moral vibe shift is occurring – which is bigger than politics or one midterm election night. Now comes the work of making that vibe shift – of resetting America – real. Since the Gingrich revolution of 1994, a politics of permanent warfare has sunk deep roots in Washington. Humiliation became a strategy. Compromise is seen as betrayal. Big Money took over. Rigging the rules of the game became the norm. Winning the next election crowded out the responsibility to help the country thrive. We have lived with the consequences: problems left to fester, trust left to wither, a public increasingly convinced that the government serves whoever can afford to buy it. And a political climate that allowed a wannabe autocrat to press the limits of the Constitution. We have an opening to break that cycle. We must move quickly, together, to first establish a new vision of self-governing. And to link that vision to the American dream: affordable homes, good jobs, safety, fiscal responsibility and a future our children can believe in. Delivering those things, we must argue, requires a government capable of listening, deliberating and acting really quickly, especially to get ahead of the coming disruptions of AI. Democracy is issue one. (See @IssueOneReform). We need to fight for three bills: an anticorruption bill, an information bill, and a checks and balances bill. Together, they must restore the foundations of self-government: public power exercised for the public good; trustworthy information that allows citizens to make informed choices; and enforceable limits that hold every leader accountable. Passing them will require a massive struggle by Americans across political lines -- to organize, insist and stay engaged. It will require putting pressure on politicians to replace the rigged system that so many of them benefit from and, instead, put the country’s capacity to govern ahead of their party’s advantage and ahead of Big Money’s agenda. In an era clouded by spiritual depravity and political division, there is such potential human beauty in this work. In discovering that a still-young republic can renew itself, despite the dark and spineless impulses of so many elites who are so willing to sacrifice principles for their personal gain. Last night gave us fresh hope. The task before us is to reset America. Govern together. Let's go.

People are rejecting corruption, lawlessness, callousness, and an arrogant inattention to kitchen-table economic issues. Some people think Americans are hopelessly uninformed and divided. In fact, they have a lot more heart and common sense than the elites who so easily capitulate to those in power.