How to bridge the growing gap between Washington and America

Among Washington insiders, conventional wisdom is that Congress can only be fixed if more order can be imposed from the top-down. The problem, through this lens, is that chaos within the various caucuses drives legislative incompetence. If only all the Democrats would fall in line behind their leaders, and all the Republicans would dutifully support whatever their leadership supports, Congress would finally begin to hum. But because “the big four” (the Speaker, the House minority leader, the Senate majority leader, and Senate minority leader) are perpetually forced to wrangle their members, Congress gets caught up. The obvious solution, under this analysis, is to give the leaders more power.

No Labels takes exactly the opposite view. The problem isn’t that the parties and their respective leaders are too weak—quite the opposite, they’re already too powerful. They’ve turned the legislative process into political gang warfare, where victory is defined not by solving problems but by vanquishing the other side in the daily news cycle and in campaigns. This top-down model has steered Washington away from the bipartisan solutions that the American people overwhelmingly support. And that’s why, in our view, the priority should be returning more power to the rank-and-file members so they’re empowered to reach across the aisle.

Unfortunately, the shift toward more powerful leaders—an evolution which began during the 1990s—won’t be reversed voluntarily or easily. No one who climbs the party apparatus to lead his or her caucus is going to give members of their various flocks free passes to thumb their noses at authority. Instead, their incentive is to placate the extremes and punish members who reach across the aisle. And that’s the root of the problem. To make Congress work for the frustrated majority of Americans who want Washington to produce two-party solutions, leaders courageous enough to stand up to their party leadership will need to stand up to the demands of those at the top.

At No Labels, we think that’s possible—and we’re ready, willing, and eager to support those who display that sort of courage. Consider, as a prime example, what happened around the State of the Union. It wasn’t just the repeated breaches of decorum that made the whole thing an embarrassing spectacle—elected members of the House jeering the president of the United States as though they were watching a professional wrestling match. It’s that if you take to heart how each party describes the other’s position on important issues, complex but solvable issues become Gordian knots. Take immigration, for example. Republicans claim Democrats are for open borders. Democrats claim Republicans are pointing the country towards fascism. If those are the terms of the debate, how can anyone compromise?

The good news is that those aren’t the terms of the debate—or, at least, they shouldn’t be. You can be both for a strengthened border and a rational approach to immigration, supporting a resolution for the Dreamers who were brought here as children. But amid the dynamics that prevail today on Capitol Hill, leadership has very little incentive to craft a workable solution—and so reformers expecting results need to look instead to the rank and file. And as it turns out, two rank-and-file members of the Texas delegation, Democratic Reps. Henry Cuellar and his Republican colleague Tony Gonzales, are showing the courage to do what everyday Americans want Washington to do—namely to address the crisis with a two-party solution.

When Cuellar and Gonzales delivered their bipartisan response to the State of the Union, which was hosted by No Labels, they displayed the sort of moxie that will be required if Congress is going to unwind the tribal warfare that makes legislating impossible. For all that Democrats may benefit politically by vilifying Republicans, Cuellar understands that angry rhetoric just makes it harder to come to bipartisan agreement. For all the political edge Republicans may win by claiming that Democrats are for open borders, Gonzales understands that scoring points brings the country no closer to a solution. But as members of Congress representing constituents on the front lines of the problem, they aren’t afraid to pursue a bipartisan approach together, because for them, service in Washington is more about solving problems than winning arguments.

The ideologues on the extremes will inevitably excoriate both for refusing to stay tribal—for dreaming of a better way. But we will be there to support them. No Labels may not represent the most engaged partisans, but we do reflect the sentiments of a broad majority of the American people. And at a moment when a monstrous gulf has emerged between America and its legislature, we will stand up for those with the courage to do what’s right.

Nancy Jacobson is CEO and founder of No Labels.