Finally, Policy Ideas that Unite Rather than Divide

By Joe Cunningham CONTRIBUTOR

You wouldn’t know it from watching the news, but there is more that unites Americans than divides them. In fact, most Democrats and Republicans share more in common with each other than they do with the extremes of their own parties. I’m part of a movement called No Labels that is working to ensure these Americans—the commonsense majority—are offered a choice that more closely aligns with their shared values during the 2024 presidential election.

Right now, there is a collective sense of dread about next year’s election, a likely rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden that 7 out of 10 Americans don’t want.

If a majority continue to be unsatisfied with their two options and if polling shows a pathway to victory, No Labels will run a unity ticket featuring a Democrat and Republican as running mates.

It isn’t just the name-calling and division that No Labels would seek to correct with its run, but also the lack of unifying ideas about the future. To fill this vacuum, No Labels released a booklet last week called Common Sense that features 30 ideas that a majority of Americans in both parties support.

I know from my time representing South Carolina in Congress that people who disagree can still work together. In fact, disagreeing on some things is inevitable. I always liked to quote Ed Koch: “If you agree with me on 7 out of 10 things, vote for me. If you agree with me on 10 out of 10 things, see a psychiatrist.”

It’s a great quote to drive home the central point of politics: That just because we don’t agree on everything doesn’t mean we can’t accomplish anything. And engaging in an open discussion about areas of agreement—and making progress on them—is a great place to start. That’s what No Labels is seeking to do with Common Sense.

One of the ideas in the booklet is to respect the rights of law-abiding gun owners while keeping firearms out of the hands of dangerous criminals. This is a prime example of the common sense that most South Carolinians and Americans support. In the wake of the Mother Emanuel AME Charleston church shooting in 2015, I saw up close that there was bipartisan support to reform our gun laws in a way that balanced both safety and freedom.

One way to do so was to close the Charleston Loophole, which allows someone to purchase a firearm if their background check takes longer than three days. This is what allowed the Charleston church shooter to obtain his weapon, and it runs against common sense in every way. Imagine if a pharmaceutical company was allowed to proceed with selling a drug just because the FDA took too long to review it.

Our push to close this loophole may have had common sense on its side, but that wasn’t enough in Washington, where the two-party machine crushes ideas for the simple reason that the wrong side thought of them first.

Another idea that has suffered a similar fate, and also earned inclusion in Common Sense, is that Dreamers—those brought to the U.S. illegally as children—should have a path to citizenship. People shouldn’t be punished for an act they had no say in. Many Dreamers don’t even speak the language of their home countries. Most of them were brought into our country as babies or toddlers, around the same age as my son. Should they really be sent back? I spoke to a Dreamer in my district who couldn’t access in-state tuition or a student loan because of his lack of legal status. This is an affront to our American values. Both parties can work together to solve it.

As a final example, the Common Sense book also discusses the idea that no child should go hungry in America. This isn’t controversial. It’s incredibly upsetting that many kids are arriving to and leaving school

Please see NO LABELS on page 25A