America, a nation longing for unity, finds herself divided by conflicting narratives. Our shared dreams and values are overshadowed by discord and growing discontent. Differences, instead of being celebrated, are misused to divide. The common voice struggles against the roar of financial influence. Our environment and infrastructure show signs of neglect and misuse. Trust is eroded by unaccountability, misinformation and lies. Facing existential crises, our gridlocked government seems incapable of making the wise decisions we need. Our stale political systems offer no space for creativity, imagination, or holistic problem-solving. Support for the vulnerable frays as our safety nets unravel. We lack a national referendum process for the public to reclaim its power. Corruption corrodes our politics, tarnishing every part of our national character. It feels as though we have no way out.

A tense anxiety holds us, as the collapse of this American dream looms large around us. What are we to do? Every morning, the average American wakes up to a world filled with individual trials, burdened by worries with little resolution. We look in the mirror and wonder if our jobs will still be there next year, next month, or even next week, as the specter of automation and economic uncertainty lurks just around the corner. As we prepare our children for school, we question if the education our kids are receiving is adequately preparing them for a future that seems increasingly uncertain. We glance at the stack of medical bills on the table, a nagging reminder of the high cost of staying healthy in a system that feels far from our control.

Citizens’ Assemblies use a democratic lottery process to ensure fair demographic representation to convene individuals from the public, everyday citizens, to examine an issue in depth. The Assembly consults available resources, interviews experts and stakeholders, and gathers public feedback, all in order to delve into the subject matter and deliberate about it effectively. Through this comprehensive, facilitated, and dialogue driven process—the Assembly identifies workable solutions, arriving at a rough consensus on the recommendations to present to the Nation.

The participants in Assemblies are not politicians. They don't chase reelection, they don't pander to special interests or play into perverse incentives, nor do they obsess over public perception. There is no need, Assemblies constitute a finite civic duty, not a profession. They're just regular people, average citizens. But they have a stake in the game—they have to live with the outcomes of their decisions. This is their incentive for making sound choices, for creating a system that truly works.

Participating in the Assembly process is a profound experience. It goes deep into the roots of the best of what makes us human: discussion, deliberation, debate, compromise, cooperation, creativity, imagination, ingenuity, fairness, equality, openness, listening, understanding, and coming together. It isn’t just a path to solutions; it is a path to healing and a vision of a better America that belongs to all of us, emerging directly from the people. Citizen Assemblies give us a felt sense of meaning and belonging as we engage in the decisions that affect our lives—knowing that our participation had an impact on the outcome.

This approach fosters thoughtful cooperation and instills a profound sense of shared ownership in addressing complex challenges. Citizens' Assemblies stand apart from partisanship, fostering depolarization through constructive dialogue and understanding. Empowering the public to find real solutions for our real problems and carry those solutions through to implementation with nationwide momentum.

By providing public platforms for informed civic discourse, Citizens' Assemblies are applicable to a wide variety of situations, problem types, and locales. We can rebuild trust in our capacity to tackle real-world problems effectively, bridging divides with a shared commitment to effective problem-solving. Citizens' Assemblies are not just a tool for democratic discourse; they are an embodiment of democracy in action.

By integrating comprehensive and impartial learning into civic life, we dispel confusion and conflicts, fostering clarity and cooperation. Opinions evolve into wisdom as we integrate diverse perspectives, cultivate shared understanding and discover the insights needed to realize solutions that work for all of us. Through a deep, thoughtful, and holistic process, the will of the people emerges—forging a people's platform that represents all of us. A platform that embodies a new political paradigm of directly addressing the issues and values most important to the American people themselves.

Assemblies focus public attention, help form consensus, and create a path to tangible action. Assemblies restore practical civics to society. The civic culture nurtured through Citizens’ Assemblies can shift the paradigm of how politics plays out in America. We can ensure our democracy is an informed, participatory process of the people, not a series of unaccountable decisions made in smoky back rooms by unlikable politicians, unelected bureaucrats, and highly funded lobbyists.

To inaugurate a new American institution, the United States Civic Assembly, a national Citizens' Assembly that stands as a beacon of civic participation. A proven tool of problem-solving, knowledge sharing, organization, and decision-making—given directly to the public. This process cultivates the clarity, the public support, the momentum needed to enact the will of the people across the nation. Facilitated, productive dialogue structured to solve problems, and orient all of us and our systems to deploy those solutions. It's an outside-in approach, providing a holistic, fresh perspective, yet potent enough to effect change from within the system.

A vibrant new civics, a network of networks holding Citizens' Assemblies, our voices echoing throughout institutional halls, advocating for tangible reform and practical solutions. We, the People, have at hand a potent method to express our collective will—an approach that is powerful yet within our grasp. Citizens’ Assemblies are versatile solution-generating solution for the people, by the people. These are solutions we can trust, arising from an Assembly process that stands strong against the usual manipulations that have corrupted our political landscape.

To gather energy, backing, and consensus agreement on solutions to every key issue. We are not partisans, but patriots. Our goal is the best for America and the best for humanity, and that means bringing the best tools for problem solving to the public. The solutions are out there, but even if experts have the perfect solution, unless the American people feel like they own it, it's not going to happen.

We, members of the public, can organize ourselves to start holding Assemblies now. Making this vision happen doesn’t require any magical thinking or unlikely outcomes. No laws need to be passed, no elections won. A Citizens’ Assembly builds power through trust and agreement, while simultaneously decentralizing that power back to the people—that is the only ‘magic’ of this, built into the very foundations.