Gerzon - The Reunited States of America

-->

Like many U.S. and other citizens of the world, I continue to search for ways to overcome the hyperpartisanship that has created gridlock in our government. Mark Gerzon’s The Reunited States of America (2016) takes a good stab at analyzing why we have sunk so deep into dysfunction and he proposes methods to get out of it. Furthermore, he provides examples of people who are taking action to bridge the schisms that tear us apart.

Gerzon’s analysis is very straightforward – he advocates that collaboration is central to working together with people different from ourselves in search for common ground (p. 7). The kind of collaboration he believes essential would be based on the 1776 U.S. Congressional action that embraced the phrase E Pluribus unum– out of many one – as how U.S.A. citizens and institutions should work with each other. David Burstein, the creator of Run for America, “has no patience for people who dismiss politics as too broken or too dysfunctional” and warns that those who adopt hopelessness give “more and more control to the same forces and the same people who have made it as broken as it is” (p. 118).

Gerzon provides evidence that many citizens are giving up on the two-party political system on which the U.S.A. has relied.  From 2000 to 2012 those registered as Democrats dropped from 35% to 31%, those registered as Republicans dropped from 30% to 25%, and independents rose from 34% to 42% - the result is that a plurality of citizens in the U.S.A. now identify as independent of party affiliation. Gerzon believes that the hyperpartisan atmosphere drove many citizens to reject the left and right as they now seek ways to hear each other and find common ground.

Based on evidence from a number of transpartisan initiatives, Gerzon recommends that those committed to moving toward each other should follow ten principles (Conclusion, pp. 157-169):

·     Take a transpartisan vacation – stop looking at, reading, or absorbing negativity

·     Recognize and exercise your liberty to learn

·     Get involved outside your red or blue box

·     Identify and support leaders who are reuniting America

·     Join a bridge-building initiative – or start your own

·     Make sure the rules promote fairness and freedom

·     Vote for bridge-building candidates

·     Connect with other boundary-crossing citizens

·     Play by the Golden Rules

·     Hold both love and power in your hands

These principles inform a new kind of patriotism that doesn’t view citizenship as either blind loyalty or constant criticism. As Gerzon indicates, “Always praising America is not patriotism. It is idolatry. But always criticizing America is not patriotism, either. It is ingratitude” (p. 160).