It may be hard to tell by the narrative that we hear consistently, but we as Americans actually agree on many of the most pressing issues we face. A majority of us want a national single-payer healthcare system, ensuring that everyone can seek medical treatment without worry of debt or bankruptcy, should they suffer a serious illness. A similar majority agrees that every working person deserves a living wage that respects their work and allows them to enjoy good lives. We also agree on the necessity of a universal basic income in an increasingly automated world and we support policies that address our increasing climate emergency. What if that majority actually joined together to achieve these objectives, and others, outside of the boundaries of parties?

Now more than ever, we need a new model of civic participation and organization, an alternative to the current system, in which, the primary focus of the two major parties is to gain and maintain power. The parties’ costly wars for dominance have not only fueled a dangerous weaponization of divisions, along with a disregard for the day-to-day concerns of most Americans, but also a growing disaffection with the spectacle of party politics. We believe this moment calls for a new policy-based, national organizing entity that brings us together around shared priorities, beyond political labels and boxes, so that we can begin to see each other, not as members of competing teams and tribes, but as fellow Americans.

Imagine a political alliance of nurses, teachers, taxi drivers and baristas; working people of all kinds, united by the clear vision of a common purpose: achieving policies that simply make peoples’ lives better. The door-to-door, neighbor-to-neighbor vitalization of organized people would power a new slate of representatives not beholden to parties, but committed to our shared vision. This ‘unpartied’ approach would be focused on achieving specific policy objectives. Central to this new model of civic participation would be support for the modernization of our voting process. Ranked Choice Voting, increasingly favored by more and more Americans, would be a major step forward. This approach truly democratizes our system by freeing people to elect candidates based on merit, rather than party identity, allowing every voter to be an independent voter in the truest sense.

The steady migration we’ve witnessed away from parties towards political independence reflects the strong desire for a new way forward. Among so many of us, exhausted by the party games that distract us from the things that are really important, there is an understanding that “the fierce urgency of now”, in Dr’ King’s words, demands new strategies and solutions. This moment offers a much-needed opportunity to begin to transform the disappointment and skepticism of our electoral past into an energizing, unifying politics of the future to take on the challenges we face. Imagine the growing majority who agree on so much working together to achieve a better tomorrow, a better world, a better US. This is the vision of United for US.