What do we want to accomplish on June 26?

April 11th, 2010

By Carolyn Lukensmeyer, President, AmericaSpeaks

AmericaSpeaks: Our Budget, Our Economy will be an unprecedented opportunity for the American people to come together to deliberate as a nation about one of the greatest challenges facing our country.

The national discussion on our budget and economy will be a chance to demonstrate that the American public can find common ground across demographic, geographic and political divides and that we as a nation can govern ourselves in a new way.

I want to use this post to share with you a little bit of background about why AmericaSpeaks believes that the public needs a greater voice and how we are approaching this national discussion.

I created AmericaSpeaks to bring the ideas and preferences of ordinary people to bear on the issues our communities and our nation face. There is no shortage of critical challenges facing our nation today and no shortage of topics around which we should convene the public. The fiscal challenges facing our nation stand out, however, as issues that will absolutely require compromise from the left and right in order to address the scale of the problems we face. The American people understand that we have a problem, but few understand the range of causes that got us here or the tough decisions that will need to be made to put us on a sustainable fiscal path.

Our elected officials need to know that the public wants them to find common ground and make tough decisions before it is too late.

The national discussion will educate the American public about the challenges facing our nation, provide Americans with a neutral space to explore the issues and weigh the trade offs, and deliver to political leaders in Washington a clear message about the shared priorities of a large, demographically representative group of Americans. Following the national discussions, we will provide Americans with resources to stay involved and let their voices be heard.

That’s what AmericaSpeaks hopes to accomplish with Our Budget, Our Economy. This is an opportunity for your voice to be heard, to engage with Americans from every walk of life, and to determine what the role of government should be going forward.

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