“Absent divine or some similar intervention, dysfunction will remain everyone’s default position. That’s where No Labels comes in.”
Eleanor Clift
The Daily Beast
A Call to Revive America’s Political Center
In a populist era, can “elite” heavyweights get anything done? They need to resolve that reviving the American Dream for hurting working- and middle-class families will be Job One. After that, they need to recruit, raise money and promote civility and respect for the law—and act together. They need to apply their demonstrated leadership skills to heal (maybe save) the country.
Group Launches Effort to Protect Moderate Candidates From Primary Challenges
The initiative, organizers say, isn’t partisan, but rather aimed at encouraging lawmakers to focus on areas of consensus rather than of difference. The goal, said No Labels spokesman Ryan Clancy, is to “send a signal to members that there is a reward for governing like a problem-solver.”
The most active centrist organization, No Labels, began six years ago in opposition to polarized, cutthroat politics. The problem with the group back then was that there was no future to a political movement whose first name is “No.” You have to be for something.
The idea is that focusing on long-term goals in this bipartisan fashion will help break the gridlock in Washington and create momentum to tackle the other goals.
The idea is to set in motion a mechanism that could generate results even in a partisan environment. Agreeing that the country should have strategic goals is a first step.
But absent divine or some similar intervention, dysfunction will remain everyone’s default position. That’s where No Labels comes in, “the only serious bipartisan game in town.”
‘No Labels’ Stops Whining, Offers Political Agenda
Enter No Labels. Rather than confine themselves to wishful thinking about a third-party candidacy or endless scolding over partisanship, its members have come out with a robust agenda for congressional reform.
Jon Huntsman issues ‘policy playbook for the next president,’ and an appeal to independent voters
Their mission is to unleash “an ambitious policy package that will speak to a critical and too-often ignored portion of the populace: 43 percent of Americans who identify as political independents and who will ultimately decide the 2016 election.”
Amid one of the most heated, polarized election cycles in modern U.S. history -- itself set against a Congress and White House paralyzed by left-right gridlock -- a group dedicated to uniting liberals and conservatives in Washington wants the next president to give bipartisanship a chance.
Huntsman group unveils plans to solve America’s woes
The 60-point agenda includes creating 25 million new jobs over the next decade, securing Social Security and Medicare for the next 75 years, balancing the budget by 2030 and making America "energy secure" by 2024.
Recognizing that politicians like to be in step with public opinion, No Labels did extensive polling and found and broad public support for the sorts of solutions they’re laying out.
How do you save Social Security? It’s not rocket science.
The solution to some of the country's most-pressing problems is not rocket science. From No Labels to think tanks to congressional blue-ribbon panels, practical bipartisan solutions are plentiful.
Working with our pro-bono partner Deloitte Consulting, No Labels conducted almost 20 policy workshops featuring policy experts, former senior government and military officials, and business and community leaders from across the political spectrum.
Here’s How the Next President Can Fix the Economy: No Labels
The presidential campaign has been long on conflict and short on serious policy proposals. But a candidate who got behind a thoughtful, bipartisan policy agenda could get a lot done in the White House.
As we begin 2016, we are blessed with an opportunity: Elect people who will change course and reroute our nation's politics, people devoted to fixing our nation's problems rather than perpetuating themselves, a president who will work with leaders from both parties to get things done.
It helps to think about it this way: Voters are looking for a real solution to the problems that decades of partisan politics have left unresolved. Regardless of your political leaning, there is appeal in the idea that a deliberate process – one that begins with goal setting and is followed by negotiating policy details – would bring forward momentum to our stuck federal government.
Our politics are producing more partisans than statesmen. On the right and left, candidates and activists emphasize their identity as adherents to a party or ideology or interest group rather than devotion to our shared identity as Americans.
How One Political Start-Up Is Trying to Fight Gridlock
No Labels staffed its lean, low-budget headquarters with talented young people who were willing to walk through walls in return for very modest compensation. The atmosphere was part underdog political campaign, part Silicon Valley venture.
Problem solvers? Six presidential candidates find common ground
No Labels, a bipartisan group, is calling on candidates to pledge to work together to address job creation, entitlements, the federal budget, and energy.
Six presidential hopefuls take ‘Problem Solver Promise’
Six presidential hopefuls have found some common ground on the nation's future, according to a bipartisan group created to bridge the divide between Republicans, Democrats and independents.
‘No Labels’: Putting problem solving on center-stage
No Labels originated with a simple idea: to solve any problem you need to set goals, get people to buy in and put a process in place. This is how any well-run business or household makes decisions — and it’s how a well-run government should make decisions.
Our Turn: When did bipartisanship become a sign of weakness?
The art of bipartisanship has kept our nation together for over two centuries. But today, this kind of statesmanship is perceived as weakness, and finger-pointing is the new political sport. It is time to raise the sail to move forward – together – with a common purpose.
Jon Huntsman and Joe Lieberman: NH, for 2016, go for a problem solver with a plan
Just as the components of granite determine the uniqueness of the rock itself, so too do the components of New Hampshire voters. Unique in that 43 percent of registered New Hampshire voters are undeclared, this means that a major portion of the voting population are waiting for a candidate to prove him or herself to be a problem solver.
The group, led by Gov. Huntsman and Sen. Lieberman, are sponsoring a convention next month in NH that will bring voters and presidential candidates together to talk about how negotiations should happen.
Sporting the bright green “No Labels Problem Solver” T-shirt... voters have been pressing the candidates to adopt the No Labels agenda and attend the organization’s national convention in Manchester, scheduled for Oct. 12.
No Labels betting on N.H. voters to push ‘for problem solver’ president
They’re counting on New Hampshire to play a big role in showing the rest of the nation that voters can get behind a candidate who’s more interested in problem-solving than political pandering.
The McConnell-Boxer bill is symbolic of what can happen in Congress when bipartisan resources are dedicated to the problem—when we stop filling pot holes and instead repair the road itself.
Pataki’s call for bipartisan approach shows a true leader
Our next president must be ready to work side by side with conservatives, liberals and independents if we want to address these top concerns because, as time has proven, no party has been able to resolve these alone.
Lieberman, Huntsman push for national moderate agenda
"That's the whole idea here — to offer No Labels as a vehicle to the American people who are frustrated, disappointed and angry about their government."
No Labels is an organization built on the premise that our country is only great when all parties participate in the legislative process and that problem solving should supersede partisan politics.
The National Strategic Agenda seeks to bypass the constraints of partisan politics and address the knotty and long-standing issues facing our nation. In order to agree on solutions to these problems, our senators and representatives must first understand the urgency with which we, as constituents, request their support.
Rolling Thunder has become a symbol of American spirit, of our ability to rise above political differences and honor those forgotten soldiers who went to fight knowing they had very little support back home.
With the next doc fix deadline coming up at the end of March, there is hope the cycle can be broken thanks to a bipartisan coalition of Problem Solvers.
As a Republican and a Democrat, we are both proud of where we come from on the political spectrum, but we believe that our country is stronger when leaders from both parties sit down to agree to common goals, then negotiate the various ways those goals might be achieved.
Rarely does the United States government see examples of bi-partisan collaboration. For that matter, neither does Sewanee. However, the non-profit organization No Labels is trying to change that in both cases.
Members of the Roosevelt Institute, USC College Republicans, USC College Democrats and Political Student Assembly attended to discuss and formulate solutions regarding broad economic growth and job creation.
Lanny Davis: No Labels is exactly what America needs
“All we want to do is ask committed liberals and committed conservatives to talk — not to give up their principles, but to reach out and find common ground to try to solve problems.” That seems pretty simple and not too much to ask.
When asked to name the issue that would be most important in deciding their vote Nov. 4, 23% of respondents said job creation and economic growth. But tied for first place, also with 23%, was this: “breaking the partisan gridlock in Congress to get things done.”
Created with input from people across the country at a series of Ideas meetings over the course of the coming year, the National Strategic Agenda will provide the answers as to how America can unite, across party lines, to solve some of the most important challenges we face.
No Labels arrives this week with its own new book, representing the next step in its plan to pull Washington out of the partisan feuding that wore down Mr. Gates.
Is it interesting when two people agree? How about a group of people? What if they can’t agree on everything, but they can agree on 75 percent of things?
Lawmakers and strategists from both parties are gathering to outline a plan to save Social Security, add 25 million jobs and balance the federal budget.
Can the two parties agree on priorities and goals?
Political leaders like to talk about forging consensus and being “uniters, not dividers,” but they seldom explain how they would achieve this political holy grail. No Labels’ call for a new governing process — developing goals together that provide the shared vision for a national agenda — is a blueprint.
