by Debilyn Molineaux, Coffee Party USA President

I was recently asked to serve on a panel talking about “Reinventing Bipartisan” with a stellar group of experts from across the political spectrum. Of course, one of the first things many of us noted was the concept of “bipartisanship” left a lot of people out. The purpose of the panel was to talk about possible solutions to move past the gridlock that is happening at the federal level, and what we as citizens could do about it.

The conversation ranged far and included some unusual topics; our willingness to look for win/win solutions and leave behind the win/lose dynamic that is most prevalent today. And we talked too about how an increase in compassion, empathy and love would be transformative for our system. And from a win/win perspective, how we would all benefit without the fear of loss. All in all, I’m proud of this very civil conversation from a diverse group of people and our agreement on what we could do to improve our politics and governance.

Here is a snippet from the corresponding blog post at Reinventors.

The Culprit behind Our Polarization Problem – All of Us

by Peter Leyden Published on Dec 8, 2014

Political polarization in the United States is not a Washington, DC problem, it’s an American people problem. But because it’s an American people problem, the ultimate solution lies with them too.

And “them” is really “us,” all of us, at both ends of the political spectrum and all positions in between.

This roundtable went after one of the fundamental challenges in America today: how to get left and right, progressive and conservative, Democrat and Republican, Blue and Red America, to once again work together across bipartisan lines. Almost all other big challenges facing the country can’t be solved without buy-in from both sides. They just can’t. So what are we going to do? [more]

I hope you enjoy watching as much as I enjoyed participating!