Hosts Celeste Carey and Cecil Prescod speak with Mark Gerzon, a leader in the movement to reunite America. He and many others are helping Americans find common ground on some of the most divisive issues America faces.
Mark Gerzon is president of Mediators Foundation. Whether working with the US House of Representatives or with the United Nations Development Program, he has forged new strategies and tools that have helped leaders engaged in heated conflicts find common ground. Currently he is working to build the Bridge Alliance, a network of organizations that can provide constructive, creative pathways to reuniting our country. He is the author of Leading through Conflict.
On the Great Seal of the Unites States it says Our country’s motto is E pluribus unum—“out of many, one”—but you’d never know it now, says mediator and civic entrepreneur Mark Gerzon. In the past, Americans could disagree without demonizing each other. But now healthy partisan debate is being replaced by hyperpartisan political brawling. Loyalty to party is overpowering love of country.
We need a new attitude if we’re going to confront the challenges our country faces. Gerzon and others call it “transpartisan”—this book is the transpartisan movement’s manifesto.
Transpartisans are open to learning from each other instead of insisting they already have all the answers. They work respectfully with people they disagree with instead of vilifying and avoiding them. They’re willing to try new solutions instead of clinging to the old approaches. And after the campaign is over, they insist their elected representatives come together to govern—not just continue campaigning.
Gerzon describes how transpartisan activists all over the country—Republicans, Democrats, and independents—are finding common ground on some of the most divisive and difficult issues we face today: abortion, gun control, sex education, defense spending, prison reform, and more. We can take the poison out of partisanship and put a stop to the seemingly endless Left-Right fistfight. Mark Gerzon explains what we all can do to strengthen our sense of unity while honoring the vital role of conflicting points of view.
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