OUR ISSUE AREAS
Americans Together is a community of proud Americans that represent the Sensible Majority across the political spectrum. We believe the time has come to push back on partisan extremism, take back our democracy, and get sh*t done!
There are many challenges we face together as a country. These are not Republican or Democratic challenges. They are American challenges. They affect each and every one of us. The sensible majority agree – unlike the politicians- on real solutions to our most critical issues.
We will advocate for:
RESPONSIBLE REPRESENTATION
These changes will make our elections fairer and more competitive and ultimately help send people to Washington focused on getting results for the Sensible Majority.
- Open Primaries
- Independent Redistricting Commissions
- Ranked (Majority) Choice Voting
ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT
These changes will improve how government functions and reward officials who serve people, not their political party.
- No Budget, No Pay
- Bipartisan/Majority Bills get a vote
- Maintaining the Filibuster in the US Senate
- Term Limits for Congress and the Supreme Court
POLICIES TO SECURE THE FUTURE
These policies will ensure security and opportunity for all Americans.
- Border Security
- Secure the Borders: Walls, fences, technology, and personnel should be bolstered at every border.
- Responsible Immigration Policies: Background checks, working visas, and a clear path to citizenship will fix our broken system.
- Economic Security
- Fiscal Commission: Addressing our debt, balancing budgets, and ensuring the solvency of Social Security and Medicare are critical.
- Energy Independence: Building a clean and secure energy future for all Americans must be a priority.
- Healthcare Cost Transparency: Demanding transparency from providers and suppliers is critical to delivering better and more equitable care.
- Individual Security
- Preventative Gun Safety Measures: Enacting background checks, red flag laws, and an increased minimum purchasing age just make good gun sense.
- Codifying Roe vs Wade: The 50-year law should be restored to maintain women’s rights.
Responsible Representation
1. Open Primaries
65% of Americans support making elections fairer and more competitive.
Primaries are elections that political parties use to select candidates for general elections. Opening primaries to more voters leads to higher voter participation rates and the selection of more moderate candidates.
There are 4 types of primary elections: (Find your state and its primary system in the map section here)
Super open primaries allow all candidates regardless of political party to appear on one single ballot, and any and all registered voters can participate. Only four states hold nonpartisan primaries (LA, AK, WA, and CA).
Open primaries allow any registered voter to participate, regardless of their party affiliation. Democrats can vote in Republican primaries, and vice-versa. Unaffiliated/independent voters can ask for either ballot.
Semi-closed primaries allow unaffiliated/independent voters to cast their ballots in either Republican or Democratic primaries. But Republicans can only vote in Republican primaries, and Democrats can only vote in Democratic primaries.
Closed primaries only allow people registered with a political party to vote. Unaffiliated/Independent voters cannot participate in the primary election process. These are the least fair elections.
As the ranks of independent and unaffiliated voters have grown, so have calls for more open primaries. Today, roughly 50% of voters nationwide identify as independents. So, 27 million Americans registered as unaffiliated/independent voters can’t vote in any primary elections because they live in one of 11 states with completely closed primaries.
Open primaries are the best way to increase voter turnout and ensure responsible representation.
2. Independent Redistricting Commissions
65% of Americans support making elections fairer and more competitive.
You have to look really hard to find a competitive election in America today. Incumbents have so many built-in advantages they almost never lose. In 2022, 84% of congressional races were landslides or uncontested. In 2024, only 12%, or 52 congressional races out of 435, are expected to be competitive.
Independent Commissions should decide congressional districts to prevent partisan gerrymandering and create more competitive and representative districts. 11 states use independent commissions to draw congressional maps (AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, MD, MI, MT, NY, WA, WI). In 39 states, legislatures are in charge of redistricting.
Gerrymandering is a process where district boundaries are deliberately manipulated to neutralize the threat of political opposition and confirm partisan advantages in statewide elections. Redistricting is based on the census and states are required to update their district maps every 10 years to reflect demographic changes.
3. Ranked (Majority) Choice Voting
65% of Americans support making elections fairer and more competitive.
Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is a nonpartisan majority voting system that guarantees a candidate will win by majority rule in an election with more than two candidates. Unlike a typical ballot where voters get to select only one candidate, RCV ballots let voters rank all candidates in a ranked choice system.
To understand single-winner RCV, it is important to understand the difference between majority and plurality. A majority is anything over 50%. A plurality is simply the most votes, and is often under 50%, especially in elections with many candidates. RCV is solely concerned with the majority. With ranked – or majority – choice voting, if your candidate doesn’t finish in the top two, she’s eliminated, and your vote moves to your second-choice candidate. This means your vote still counts, and a candidate most people actually prefer wins and therefore, democracy wins.
As the number of registered independents now nearly equals that of the two parties, RCV is the only system that ensures everyone gets a voice. Ranked choice voting is currently used in two states, Maine and Alaska, for state and federal elections.
Accountable Government
1. No Budget, No Pay
Congress should be held accountable to do their jobs, starting with managing the finances of the country. This is what every family and every business has to do.
Members of Congress and Senators should be held accountable when they fail to perform their most basic function: funding the government. Congress has not passed a budget by the October 1 deadline since 1996.
No Budget, No Pay is bipartisan legislation supported by 65% of Americans that would withhold congressional salaries if an annual budget fails to pass by October 1. There have been a number of No Budget, No Pay bills introduced in recent years, but none have passed.
2. Mandatory Votes on Bipartisan/Majority Bills
Extremism is now the winning formula in Congress. The Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House have near unilateral control over what makes it to the floor for a vote. As Congress becomes more polarized, political maneuvering and infighting make it more and more difficult to introduce, let alone enact, truly bipartisan legislation.
While attacks make headlines, urgent problems go unaddressed. The failure of a bipartisan border bill that would have dramatically improved a disastrous situation is the most conspicuous example of how perverse political incentives can triumph over good-faith collaboration and dealmaking.
Today, many bills do not get a vote in Congress even if they have bipartisan support from a majority of Members of Congress. By requiring a vote on these bills, we can ensure that legislation with broad support gets passed.
3. Term Limits for Congress and the Supreme Court
83% of registered voters support a term limit amendment for members of Congress and Supreme Court justices.
Being elected to Congress has become a lifelong job. Supreme Court justices have always enjoyed lifetime appointments.
Members of the House are able to serve unlimited two-year terms. Senators can serve unlimited six-year terms. Almost 90% of individuals elected to Congress seek reelection, and incumbents win 94% of the time.
Term limits are a great example of the divide between having the majority of popular will (83% of voters support) and political reality.
Policies to Secure the Future
1. Border Security
74% of Americans support bipartisan legislation to secure the border and establish responsible immigration policies including background checks, work visas and paths to citizenship.
Walls, fences, technology, and personnel should be bolstered at every border.
Responsible immigration policies
Congressional inaction has led to an influx of roughly 10 million undocumented immigrants since 2021. A sensible border policy must:
- Reduce the number of illegal border crossings.
- Increase border security infrastructure.
- Enforce existing border laws.
- Ease the legal entry of those with needed skills.
- Hire more border patrol officers.
- Raise the threshold for asylum claims.
- End catch and release.
- Reform the broken parole system.
We can fix our immigration system if Congress simply chooses to act.
Background checks, working visas, and a clear path to citizenship will fix our broken system.
2. Economic Security
i. Fiscal Commission
The national debt is currently $34.32 trillion and is projected to double by 2050. The US debt to GDP ratio is 123%, a figure so high that we are losing 25 cents on every dollar we make. The Social Security Trust Fund is projected to be exhausted by 2037, with default expected by 2044.
The Manchin-Romney Commission Fiscal Stability Act would go a long way toward solving both the immediate and long-term fiscal issues that threaten the nation.
Addressing our debt, balancing budgets, and ensuring the solvency of Social Security and Medicare are critical.
ii. Energy Independence
75% of Americans support policies to build a clean, secure energy future.
The role of climate in energy policy has become one of the most divisive issues in American politics. But the reality is that record levels of energy production of renewables and fossil fuels resulted from two recent energy bills: the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The laws’ substantial energy investments have spurred innovation across a range of traditional and renewable power sources and laid the foundation for lasting US energy independence.
Building a clean and secure energy future for all Americans must be a priority.
iii. Healthcare Cost transparency
82% of Americans support greater transparency for healthcare prices.
The US has the most expensive health care system in the world. Price transparency is intended to reduce runaway overall health care costs by increasing market competition among insurers, providers, and sellers.
Demanding transparency from providers and suppliers is critical to delivering better and more equitable care.
3. Individual Security
i. Preventative Gun Safety Measures
80% of Americans support preventative gun safety measures.
The right to bear arms is deeply entrenched in American politics and culture. 32% of Americans own a gun while 44% live in a gun household. A record 48,830 Americans died of gun-related injuries in 2021. A third of the world’s mass shootings since 1966 have taken place in the US.
Mandatory universal background checks, red flag laws and higher minimum age requirements are supported by nearly three-quarters of voters. They should be passed.
ii. Codifying Roe v Wade
60% of Americans agree with Roe v Wade.
In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned a constitutional right to abortion and returned the issue to the states, resulting in a patchwork of abortion bans and restrictions across the country. The right to reproductive healthcare should not depend on where someone lives. The vast majority of Americans agree with the precedent set by Roe vs Wade.
Congress should codify the protections outlined under Roe, and guarantee equal access to abortion and reproductive healthcare – including in vitro fertilization – to all Americans.
