About FixUS
FixUS seeks to better understand the root causes of our nation’s growing divisions and deteriorating political system, work with others to bring attention to these issues and the need to fix them, and build support for necessary changes. About FixUS.
Take Action
There is much you can do to get involved and help this movement. Use our checklist with steps to get started. Take Action.
Roadshow
The FixUS Nationwide Roadshow & Listening Tour is engaging numerous local audiences around the country and is getting input from Americans on what is causing the growing division and what can be done to fix it. Roadshow.
Resources
FixUS Library - a resource of published works focused on issues surrounding the divided state of our country, its causes and/or possible solutions.
FixUS Landscape Review - a resource of existing organizations devoted to improving the state of our democracy in a variety of ways.
FixUS Launch
Watch the video of our launch event in Washington, DC - Bridging Our Divides: Confronting America's Threat from Within.
Vision
FixUS is a group of Americans united in shared concern over the divided state of our country. We believe that healing these divisions is our highest national priority, and essential to preparing our nation to face the defining challenges of the 21st century.
The American experiment is among the most remarkable and improbable achievements in human history. Yet today that experiment may be at risk. Our political leaders are neither willing nor able to achieve compromise on a range of pressing issues. Washington is focused on short-term fixes instead of long-term solutions, and both parties put partisanship over progress. Incivility has come to rule our political discourse, inside Washington and across the country.
It doesn’t have to be this way. FixUS believes Americans must demand more of the leaders and institutions – political, economic, and civic – that increasingly have failed to earn our trust. We stand for change that will open our politics to fresh ideas and new participants, open the doors of the middle class to all hard working Americans, and bring Americans together in harmony instead of acrimony to create a new agenda for the 21st century.
The reality is we can ill-afford to wait. As long as the current state of affairs continues, we will neglect pressing challenges and opportunities, from our national debt, to preparing our children for an ever more competitive environment, to the rise of new global economic and military competitors. If we don’t face up to the fundamental problem of fixing our system, we have little hope of surmounting others.
At FixUS, we envision an America that:
- Restores faith in our politics through a more open system in Washington, one that rewards progress over partisanship and is more representative of, and responsive to, the American public;
- Restores faith that Americans who play by the rules can get ahead, by addressing the root causes of income disparities, economic immobility, and persistent economic insecurity in the richest nation on Earth, and;
- Restores Americans’ faith in one another and our collective ability to solve problems and create an ever more inclusive, free and prosperous nation.
Click the logo to share the FixUS Vision with your networks.
About US
Our Challenge
America is threatened by a paralyzed political system and growing cultural divide. Our nation’s growing divisions are putting our nation at risk by failing to deal responsibly with a range of critical threats and challenges. The deterioration is reaching a point where we are losing trust and faith in our politicians, our institutions, and each other. As a result, our nation may be divided to an extent that we are losing a sense of shared aspirations, values, and a belief that there is more that unites us than divides us.
Our Mission
FixUS is a group of Americans united in shared concern over the divided state of our country, and believe that healing our divisions is our highest national priority and essential to preparing our nation to face the defining challenges of the 21st century. We are a community for the politically homeless, who recognize that sustainable public policy solutions will remain elusive until the nation comes together to address the underlying root causes of hyper-partisanship and public distrust. We seek to better understand the political, economic and cultural root causes of our nation’s growing divisions, to work with others to bring attention to these issues and the need to fix them, and to build support for necessary changes.
Our Theory of Change
Because the roots of our nation’s divisions are complex, integrated, and long-term in the making, we must confront these causes broadly and holistically in order to bring about real change. A large, diverse, and more networked constituency is ultimately required to work together to heal our divisions. Because of the declining trust and exhaustion of many with our political process - deep and meaningful citizen engagement will be required to guide necessary changes.
Our Work
- We are promoting a better understanding of the root causes of our divides by conducting and publishing research and engaging citizens via our Roadshow and Listening Tour;
- We are convening, networking and increasing visibility for a diverse constituency that is bringing attention to these issues - via events, conference calls, and other forums that connect concerned citizens, business leaders, elected officials, policy experts and advocates;
- We are developing the FixUS Roadmap - a bottom up, citizen guided agenda to help heal our divisions through policy, institutional and civic reforms that address the underlying political, economic and cultural roots of our divide.
The FixUS Nationwide Roadshow & Listening Tour is engaging numerous local audiences around the country - in civic and business groups, community forums, young professional and student groups and others - to better understand what citizens think, value and believe is causing heightened levels of political division. Speakers discuss the root causes of our national problems like the debt and others, and educate on the need to come together around possible solutions. Modeled after an effort launched as part of the Campaign to Fix the Debt, the tour is partnering with affinity organizations to engage the public and encourage broader local and national conversation on the deteriorating state of our political system and the existence of possible solutions.
Download a Roadshow Presentation Slide Deck
For more slide decks, see here.
Host a Roadshow Event
Request that the FixUS Nationwide Roadshow and Listening Tour stop in your community by offering to host an event.
Roadshow Report
Lessons from the Road on How to Heal Our Fractured Country
Read our new report summarizing what we have learned so far from the Roadshow & Listening Tour, Lessons from the Road on How to Heal Our Fractured Country.
The findings are based on events involving thousands of citizens across the country in 27 states with over 70 audiences.
1. Americans are frustrated and exhausted with the political battle in Washington and as a result, are tuning it out.
2. The drivers of our divide are deep and wide ranging across multiple cultural, economic and political factor.
3. Americans feel a growing sense of being disconnected and are distrustful of institutions, experts and elite.
4. There is a vast community of Americans that feel politically homeless, yet they express hope after experiencing an alternative to our divided state of affairs.
5. While there is little agreement about potential solutions to our divide, given the opportunity, most Americans are willing to work together and are eager to keep the conversation going...and so we will.
These five lessons will drive our efforts moving forward to bridge our divisions and fix the dysfunction in our politics.
FixUS Affinity Partners
Roadshow Roundup
October 2019
Paul Stebbins spoke to the City Club of the Mahoning Valley in Youngstown, Ohio on October 14, 2019. Listen to the podcast.
March 2019
Mike Murphy - FixUS
As we take our message across the country, I wanted to share a recent experience to help highlight the impact we are having.
I had the privilege recently of addressing over 1,000 high school students at the Junior State of America Winter Congress just outside of Washington, DC (pictured, right). To say it was an inspiring event would be an understatement.
Speaking with them about the debt, what effect it will have on their future, and how it is symbolic of our hyper-partisan political environment, this crowd of future leaders was deeply engaged.
I know I struck a chord when I asked students to raise their hand if they think political polarization prevents our ability to address issues like the debt – every hand went up.
We had similar success at another recent event at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida. Paul Stebbins spoke to 200 people on the topic of: “Trillion Dollar Deficits: How the National Debt Symbolizes Our Broken Political System.” Other recent events were held in Cleveland, Ohio; Erie, Pennsylvania; and Omaha, Nebraska.
Our roadshow events are often hosted by local civic, community, and business groups, as well as academic institutions. They encourage dialogue among audiences around the country about the roots of our political dysfunction and how we can fix it in order to address growing debt and other challenges facing us. If you are a member or are otherwise connected to such groups, we would like to hear from you about hosting an event in your area.
In addition, local Fix the Debt leader, Buzz Garlock, wrote a great op-ed in the Omaha World-Herald that is worth reading and sharing.
Mike Murphy addresses the Junior State of America Winter Congress
FixUS in the News
Guest Editorial: Unlike politicians in D.C., some are willing to work together - Times Record - December 17, 2019
Fixing Us? - Facing the Future - December 11, 2019
A discussion with Paul Stebbins from FixUS - The Alliance Party After Dark podcast - December 8, 2019
No budget. On the brink of default. It’s a hell of a way to run a country. - Washington Post - July 17, 2019
The question to ask in 2020 - The Fulcrum - June 27, 2019
Disastrous record deficits threaten US future yet barely make a ripple in Washington - USA Today - April 12, 2019
Fixing debt and our broken system must be national priorities - Austin American-Statesman - December 13, 2018
CONTACT US
Follow us on Twitter at @FixUSorg
Email us at fixus@fixthedebt.org