LatinaLista — 2010 may well be noted in history as the rise of non-partisan political movements in response to the partisan bickering that has sieged Washington ever since South Carolina Republican House Representative Joe Wilson screamed “you lie” to Obama during a 2009 joint session of Congress.
Since then, the nation saw the creation of the Tea Party, MoveOn.org and the Coffee Party. Each trying to get politicians to focus on the issues important to the American people without identifying with a specific party.
Unfortunately, the Tea Party has devolved into a perceived right-wing radical party, MoveOn.org identified with the left while the Coffee Party is still growing its middle-of-the-road grassroots base.
Now, there’s a third movement. No Labels launched today in Washington DC and unlike both the Tea Party and MoveOn.org, it is serious about making constructive bipartisan changes in Washington.
No Labels intends to unite Republicans, Democrats and Independents with a simple, single idea — our leaders need to work together to do what government was intended to do: solve problems. No Labels is not a political party nor aspires to be one, our focus is on building a broad citizen movement, not running any one individual for office.
Backed by a roster of professionals from all ethnicities, parties and industries, No Labels wants to pressure Congress to start working on the issues and finding the solutions that are good for the country and not for a particular party’s re-election prospects.
So far, over 6,000 people have signed the group’s “Declaration.” No Labels has an ambitious agenda for 2011. Among their objectives are:
Monitor and track the activities of all members of congress to ensure they are not playing hyper-partisan games.
Host in-state award gatherings where we will highlight leaders (two Democrats and two Republicans) who are actively working across party lines to move this country forward.
Establish a Political Action Committee that can operate in the 2012 primary races of members who get challenged by the ideological extremes of either party.
With the tagline, “Not Left. Not Right. Forward,” No Labels’ organizers feel that once politicians shed their loyalty anchors, then politicians can move forward on those issues that are blocking the nation’s progress.
