THE FRUSTRATED MAJORITY

By Karen Dybis

PUSHING FOR DEMOCRACY TO RETAKE CENTER STAGE IN D.C.

Clancy said. “Businesses have a five, ten, twenty-year horizon for making investments. … They’re being awakened by the noisiness. They need to be invested in making the system work.”

Innovation and the Bipartisan Policy Center all have something in common— they are groups that are focused on policy rather than elections.

For example, Williams describes No Labels as an organization that looks to promote bipartisan process reform. The Bipartisan Policy Center, he notes, is a think tank “that really is focused on the actual policy the Congress creates.” And the Institute for Political Innovation (IPI) seeks to establish non-partisan primaries with all candidates on one ballot.

“Then, the top five—regardless of party—make it to the general election in an instant runoff,” Williams explained of IPI’s approach. “Thus, this ends the phenomenon where the primary decides the election.”

That’s something Michigan has experienced as well, said Brad Williams, Vice President of Government Relations with the Detroit Regional Chamber. “Businesses rely on the stable economy that democracy provides, the health of our democratic institutions encourages businesses to invest and grow,” Williams said.

Williams said organizations such as No Labels, the Institute for Political

For Clancy and No Labels, bipartisan coalitions create real and substantial progress that helps that frustrated, exhausted majority. He notes how No Label’s support of the growing bipartisan coalitions in Congress led to the passage of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill in 2021 or the CHIPS semiconductor bill in 2022.

“We’re really supporting the work horses,” Clancy said. “This is the kind of government in poll after poll that people want.”