center for collaborative democracy
Grand
Bargain Project
Reuniting America around a Common-Sense Plan for Nationwide Prosperity
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Why We Need to Tackle These Six Issues Together
Ninety-six (96) percent of Americans hunger for major progress in one or more of these areas.
Yet in recent decades, whichever party has controlled the Administration or Capitol Hill, government has failed to deliver lasting progress, fueling much of the anger and discontent of recent years.
One reason government fails is that each law is enacted to satisfy some voters, interest groups and politicians — at one point in time.
Current policies thereby contradict one another, have consumed trillions of dollars and yet, on balance, have let our chronic problems grow worse.
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Steps to Circumvent these Obstacles
Grand
Bargain
Grand
Bargain
Proof of Concept
To start, we integrated policy suggestions from 13 top former federal officials and think tank leaders. We then sought feedback from key stakeholders in the six areas and diverse citizens. The result: a 2,500-word Grand Bargain Framework that diverse audiences are consistently preferring over the country’s current direction, including:
97%
of attendees at our Braver Angels workshop in June
93%
of major stakeholder organizations interviewed to date
92%
of attendees at Young Presidents Organization meeting in August
85%
deficit hawks, climate activists, liberals and libertarians interviewed
A growing list of supporters and organizations have thereby concluded that the six-issue Grand Bargain could serve as a roadmap for the future that would unite far more of the country than anything else can.
Building an Exponentially Growing Movement
Bridge Alliance, various Rotary Clubs, and other civic groups are working with us to incorporate the Grand Bargain into their community-building programs.
Braver Angels and others will host workshops in which participants deliberate over the evolving plan.
To facilitate nationwide dialogue, our Grand-Bargain-in-a-Box toolkit will enable citizens to deliberate over the contents of the evolving plan — and will enable us to distill the results into a format that we will present to political leaders as representing the will of the America people.
To mobilize the 100+ million “exhausted majority” who hunger for a better future — but disagree about how to get there — our digital-social media campaign will air messages such as: If just a fraction of us put aside our differences and unite into a movement supporting the Grand Bargain, we could at last exert influence proportional to our numbers.
To members of the new congressional majority who strongly support any of the six goals, we will make a case that, In a Senate and House where the majorities are razor thin, if you unite into a Grand Bargain Working Group, you could steer the agenda in a far more constructive direction than is otherwise possible.
Expected Outcomes
A critical mass of Americans, influencers and stakeholders will increasingly unite around the grand bargain, creating an exponentially growing movement to tackle our nation’s core challenges.
A Grand Bargain Working Group would then be well positioned to make a case to fellow lawmakers and congressional leaders that: If we want to broaden our base of support, and show the public we can govern, we need to adopt this increasingly popular agreement as our roadmap for America’s future.
An ambitious plan. But no one has shown us any other credible way to reunite America. Nor do we see any other way to induce policymakers to agree on how to boost economic mobility, curb the debt, minimize destructive weather, or attain the other key objectives.
Our country thereby needs the grand bargain if the American people and our democracy are to thrive.
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Grand Bargain News
Blog
The Cost of Gridlock: What America Stands to Lose
Gridlock in Washington often feels like political business as usual. But beyond the headlines and finger-pointing lies a sobering reality: inaction has real consequences. It’s not just about legislation left on the table—it’s about opportunities lost, growing costs, and the erosion of public trust.
News
Building Consensus: Starting with Experts’ Insights to Help Shape Our Future
On December 3rd, the Brookings Institution and American Enterprise Institute (AEI) co-hosted an event to discuss a report commissioned by the Center for Collaborative Democracy.
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Blog
Introducing the Grand Bargain Project: A Collective Path to a Stronger America
We’ve just experienced a pivotal election, one that brought a wide range of emotions, opinions, and hopes from every corner of the country.
Join us in reuniting our country. Join us on forging a path to nationwide prosperity.
The Grand Bargain Project has gathered concrete evidence that common-sense reforms in all six of the above areas, if combined, would yield vast benefits to society — enough so that nearly every American would strongly prefer the total package over the country’s current direction.
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The Center for Collaborative Democracy is a 501(c)3 Nonprofit and the sponsor of the Grand Bargain Project. We strive to help every American reach their potential by working with business leaders, consumer advocates, labor unions, environmentalists, civil rights groups and other major stakeholders to develop innovative solutions for our nation’s most critical problems. We see that process as necessary to reduce the hyper-polarization that threatens our democracy.