“Not left. Not right. Forward”

Imagine. Not telling someone what the answer is - but showing one way to get answers.

Imagine a political organization not telling us what the direction our Country should take but showing a framework that may help us.

Imagine. Here's a way to talk to each other vs. here's what you're going to do.

One small problem. The very people that we elect to represent us to govern, are the very ones that would have to adopt these changes.

The influence of money in our politics has destroyed any chance of that ever happening.

“No Labels.” Even the name is annoying. For one thing, it’s a label. There’s no branding quite like anti-branding, which in this case is even perched atop a slogan: “Not left. Not right. Forward.”

'Kang’s stump speech from “The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror VII”: “My fellow Americans. As a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball, but tonight I say, we must move forward not backward, upward not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling toward freedom.”

'The problem, of course, is that Americans disagree about which direction is forward. Is it toward universal health care? Or away from it? Toward policies to curb climate change? Or away from them? Toward more rights for gay and lesbian couples? Or toward a constitutional amendment enshrining the primacy of traditional marriage'?

'Political reform groups tend to buy into the most pernicious myth in politics: that the answers are easy and obvious, and that all the political system needs is a firmer commitment to common sense, bipartisanship or “the American people.”

'These groups don’t just deny the very real arguments that divide our politics, they take themselves out of the game of offering solutions. They leave everyone else to do the hard work while they collect accolades for offering a future beyond division and bickering and ugliness — and reality'.

'But last week, No Labels surprised me. They released an agenda that did the impossible: proposed a plausible path for moving in that most elusive direction: forward. They did it, unexpectedly, by refusing to suggest that they themselves knew which direction ultimately is forward'.
From : http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2011/12/no_labels_stops_whining034274.php

No Labels - http://nolabels.org/work

1. No Budget, No Pay

2. Up or Down Vote on Presidential Appointments

3. Fix the Filibuster

4. Empower the Sensible Majority

5. Make Members Come to Work

6. Question Time for the President

7. Fiscal Report to Congress: Hear it. Read it. Sign it.

8. Fiscal Report to Congress: Hear it. Read it. Sign it.

9. Monthly Bipartisan Gatherings

10. Bipartisan Seating

11. Bipartisan Leadership Committee

12. No Negative Campaigns Against Incumbents