Unity: No Labels

By: Caleb Eckert, July 15th, 2019

Students from the Presidency And The Press program at Franklin Pierce University recently visited the Unity: No Labels campaign in Manchester, New Hampshire. No Labels is a non-profit group, and strives to help the current political climate become less hostile and more reasonable. By advocating for mutual r

espectt and cooperation to find solutions, No Labels is trying to bring people together in a way that they believe mainstream political parties are failing to do. The Unity campaign reminds people that we are all

Americans, no matter our political parties, and that party should never come before our country.

The Unity campaign is made up of people with different political beliefs and backgrounds. They have opposite opinions on both social and economic issues. All can agree, however, that working together to find common ground is a more effective and efficient way to solve problems than working separately. They believe that more unites people than divides them, and that unifying politics are always much more effective than politics that divide us.  As stated on its website, “People with different beliefs really can set aside the labels in service to making our government, and our country, work again.” When you bring people together, they bring their ideas with them, and can find compromises that create solutions.

No Labels believes that people are becoming more and more tribal in their politics, less likely to communicate with others with whom they disagree, and more likely to attack and ignore them. This creates even more hostility, and lessons the ability of opposing parties to work together. The rise of social media has not helped this issue. It has allowed the angriest and loudest to come to the forefront of politics, and changed how people view their political opponents. Many now see those with different political opinions as enemies, instead of as fellow Americans who believe in different solutions to the same problems. The Unity Campaign’s website further states, “The far right and far left are holding America hostage—becoming ever more strident, uncompromising and making governance impossible.” As this anger influences the actions of America’s parties, pushing them further to the left and right, centerists and moderates feel disenfranchised. No Labels believes that most people are at the center of the political spectrum. They believe that by mobilizing moderates to vote, they can put more centrist candidates into office. Holly Page, a member of the group, argued that voting is an incredibly important part of American democracy, and said “Everyone should vote, people need to vote.” By voting, people are voicing their opinions and participating in their government. The Unity campaign thinks that many people in center don’t vote because neither political party aligns with their beliefs, but by electing more moderates to government to federal positions, the American people can change that. Those centerists will be more interested in working with others, even if they disagree with them, then against.

No Labels intends to accomplish this task by helping those in the middle get the information they need to vote for the person who most aligns with their political ideals. They do this by talking about issues that unify people, stressing what unites us, attending candidate’s events, and distributing information. They’ve already made progress fostering cooperation in government by helping create the Problem Solvers Caucus, a caucus in the House of Representatives based on bipartisan cooperation. It is made up of an even number of Democrats and Republicans, all willing to work together to help the people in the center get the legislation they support. To join, representatives must find someone from the opposite party to join with them, so the caucus always remains an even number of both parties, and opposing views will be perfectly balanced, as all things should be.