FixUS was formed as a grassroots effort to make our government work better for everyone. In recent days, thousands of people have marched to bring attention to a system that has impeded the progress of Black Americans since our country’s founding. We stand with them, and while we know much work remains, we are committed to being part of the solution.
About FixUS
FixUS Civility Pledge
FixUS Civility Pledge
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.
FixUS Civility Pledge
FixUS Civility Pledge
FixUS Civility Pledge
Sign and share the FixUS Civility Pledge to affirm that you will contribute to constructive dialogue in your community and encourage your neighbors and elected officials to do the same.
Introducing FixUS
FixUS Civility Pledge
Introducing FixUS
Watch our brief video explaining what FixUS is all about. Watch the Video.
What does FixUS stand for? Check out our Principles.
View and share the FixUS Vision.
Roadshow Report
Roadshow Report
Introducing FixUS
Lessons from the Road on How to Heal Our Fractured Country highlights what we learned from our nationwide Roadshow. Read the Report.
State Chapters
Roadshow Report
State Chapters
Do you live in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, or Virginia? If so, join the efforts that already exist where you live. Live elsewhere and want to get involved? Click here to start a chapter in your state.
FixUS Events
Roadshow Report
State Chapters
Click the video above to watch Maya MacGuineas discuss FixUS on the How to Fix Democracy podcast.
Watch the video of our Big Ideas: Cybersecurity discussion.
Listen to the podcast of our Improving Democracy discussion with Dr. Danielle Allen and Yuval Levin.
Take Action
FixUS in the News
FixUS in the News
The Fixer’s Toolkit offers resources to get involved with our FixUS effort. There are things you can do to improve our deteriorating political situation and spread the message of FixUS to your friends, family, and neighbors. Take Action.
FixUS in the News
FixUS in the News
FixUS in the News
Check out our latest op-ed in Colorado Politics.
Click here to read our op-ed in the Lansing State Journal.
Read additional articles by and about FixUS here.
Resources
FixUS in the News
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.
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 engaged 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 discussed 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 partnered 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.
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
FixUS Update
August 2020
FixUS - Florida hosted a discussion on Florida Amendment 3, the Top-Two Open Primaries for State Offices Initiative. Watch the video.
FixUS and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget hosted a "Big Ideas" conversation with Dr. Danielle Allen and Yuval Levin on Improving Democracy. Listen to the podcast.
Maya MacGuineas appeared on How to Fix Democracy on the economic threats to democracy in America. Watch the video.
July 2020
A FixUS Conversation on Gettysburg Revisited discussed how the lessons of the Battle of Gettysburg can inform our understanding of our present circumstances and how FixUS can learn from history's lessons to affect change for a better tomorrow. Watch the video.
FixUS - North Carolina hosted a Civility Series discussion on Religion's Role in Bridging Divides. Watch the video.
FixUS - Alaska hosted its first virtual discussion with Paul Stebbins. Watch the video.
June 2020
A FixUS Conversation on A Call to Service discussed how encouraging national service can help address polarization in this country. Watch the video.
FixUS - North Carolina hosted a Civility Series conversation on What Does Civility Look Like During Crisis? Watch the video.
Paul Stebbins talked to the Economic Club of Traverse City (Michigan) about his journey in getting involved with FixUS. Watch the video.
May 2020
Paul Stebbins of FixUS talked to The American Interest about why he got involved with us and our ongoing work. Watch the video.
A FixUS Conversation with author and former Congressman Mickey Edwards discussed the dysfunction in U.S. politics and how to fix it. Watch the video.
April 2020
On April 17, FixUS hosted an online forum entitled Polarization and the Pandemic that nearly 500 people registered to watch. The event featured a diverse group of thought leaders who addressed the question of how the COVID crisis will impact the growing divisiveness of our national politics. Read the summary of the event.
March 2020
On March 25, FixUS hosted a nationwide conference call featuring Amber McReynolds, CEO of the National Vote at Home Institute and one of the country’s leading experts on election administration and policy. Amber discussed the topic of vote by mail, a reform that has been proposed as a way to improve the functioning our democracy and is of increased interest in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. Listen to the audio recording of the call here.
January 2020
FixUS was formally launched at a policy forum on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on January 14, 2020 - Bridging Our Divides: Confronting America's Threat from Within. Thought leaders, activists, and policymakers discussed the political, economic, and cultural root causes of our growing national divides and potential solutions.
Watch the full video of the event.
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
The Fixer's Toolkit
FixUS is a group of Americans united in shared concern over the divided state of our country. Here are things you can do to have your voice heard, help heal our divisions, and chart a better path forward for our nation.
First Time Fixer:
Join us either by signing the FixUS Civility Pledge or by subscribing to the FixUS mailing list. You can also donate.
Find Other Fixers:
Do you live in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, or Virginia? If so, join the efforts that already exist where you live. Live elsewhere and want to get involved? Click here to start a chapter in your state.
Learn about Fixes and FixUS:
Speak Up:
Write a letter to the editor to encourage civility in our politics.
Review previous FixUS speeches here.
Request a FixUS speaker for your civic or business organization.
FixUS in the News
America needs a return to civility - Herald-Palladium - September 2, 2020
Rebuilding trust in our leadership - Colorado Politics - August 26, 2020
How to Fix Democracy / Maya MacGuineas - Bertelsmann Foundation - August 4, 2020
Practicing civility is the only way to find solutions, and is a civic duty - Lansing State Journal - July 24, 2020
Former World Fuel Services CEO Paul Stebbins left rat race to focus on civic duties - Chicago Business Journal - July 16, 2020
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget President Maya MacGuineas discussed FixUS on C-SPAN - C-SPAN Washington Journal - July 14, 2020
We owe it to future generations to work together - Juneau Empire - June 2, 2020
Conversation with Paul Stebbins - The American Interest - May 20, 2020
New coalition will push democracy reforms targeted to center and right - The Fulcrum - March 26, 2020
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.or