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Fighting for Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress
In FIGHTING FOR COMMON GROUND: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress (Weinstein Books; May 14, 2013; Hardcover), Sen. Snowe offers a candid appraisal of our broken political system and what can, and must, be done to fix it. A clarion call to action, she also pulls back the curtain on the highlights—and lowlights—of her career, her evolution as a legislator, and her remarkable life.
Sen. Snowe’s story is filled with trials and setbacks but also perseverance and success, which molded her into the dedicated lawmaker and advocate she is today. Born in Augusta, Maine, to a Greek immigrant father and first generation American mother—both of whom were restaurant workers--Sen. Snowe was orphaned at the age of nine. She attended a school in New York run by the Greek Orthodox Church for children in need where she had her first taste of independence, often navigating trains solo between the school, New York City, and her aunt and uncle’s home in Maine. She graduated from the University of Maine where she studied political science. After her husband, a state legislator, was killed in an automobile accident when she was twenty-six, she ran for his seat, and thus began her remarkable political career serving in both the Maine House and Senate and in the U.S. House and U.S Senate, where she acquired a reputation for being hard-working and committed to seeking bipartisan solutions to even the most politically volatile issues.
Sen. Snowe has been at the center of some of the most important political moments of our time. In FIGHTING FOR COMMON GROUND she offers an insider’s perspective on health care reform, the debt ceiling crisis, the Bush tax cuts, 9/11, women’s rights, the Clinton impeachment, and the financial crisis of 2008, among other hot button issues. She also offers a number of real solutions to America’s political gridlock, including steps that should be undertaken to change Senate rules and congressional procedures, and those that should be taken to enact campaign finance and political reform (see attached). Today she leads a political action committee, Olympia’s List, to further the goal of a truly bipartisan, productive Congress.
Sen. Snowe has seen the worst that Congress has to offer, but she hasn’t lost hope that it can rise to once again be the greatest deliberative body in the world. By holding Congress and the White House accountable, by tackling real campaign finance reform, by building grassroots movements to reward consensus-building, and by actively engaging young people in the legislative system, she believes that the American people can once again put their faith in the government officials they elect.
Sen. Snowe’s story is filled with trials and setbacks but also perseverance and success, which molded her into the dedicated lawmaker and advocate she is today. Born in Augusta, Maine, to a Greek immigrant father and first generation American mother—both of whom were restaurant workers--Sen. Snowe was orphaned at the age of nine. She attended a school in New York run by the Greek Orthodox Church for children in need where she had her first taste of independence, often navigating trains solo between the school, New York City, and her aunt and uncle’s home in Maine. She graduated from the University of Maine where she studied political science. After her husband, a state legislator, was killed in an automobile accident when she was twenty-six, she ran for his seat, and thus began her remarkable political career serving in both the Maine House and Senate and in the U.S. House and U.S Senate, where she acquired a reputation for being hard-working and committed to seeking bipartisan solutions to even the most politically volatile issues.
Sen. Snowe has been at the center of some of the most important political moments of our time. In FIGHTING FOR COMMON GROUND she offers an insider’s perspective on health care reform, the debt ceiling crisis, the Bush tax cuts, 9/11, women’s rights, the Clinton impeachment, and the financial crisis of 2008, among other hot button issues. She also offers a number of real solutions to America’s political gridlock, including steps that should be undertaken to change Senate rules and congressional procedures, and those that should be taken to enact campaign finance and political reform (see attached). Today she leads a political action committee, Olympia’s List, to further the goal of a truly bipartisan, productive Congress.
Sen. Snowe has seen the worst that Congress has to offer, but she hasn’t lost hope that it can rise to once again be the greatest deliberative body in the world. By holding Congress and the White House accountable, by tackling real campaign finance reform, by building grassroots movements to reward consensus-building, and by actively engaging young people in the legislative system, she believes that the American people can once again put their faith in the government officials they elect.
328 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
10 people are currently reading
377 people want to read
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October 29, 2014
As a stalwart Democrat, I can honestly say that I was sorry to see Olympia Snowe leave Congress. If there were more Congress(wo)men like her, it might make deciding who to vote for much more difficult. Unfortunately, her departure meant one of the very last reasonable voices on the Republican side was giving ground to more Tea Party madness and more intractability. We need more moderate Republicans in Congress who want to take their party back from the crazies and voters who want to help them do it.
December 6, 2014
I really wanted to like this more because I feel so strongly about the topic, and because she's the sort of pragmatic centrist politician we need so many more of. But I was ultimately disappointed for two reasons. First, it's basically her autobiography, not just the prescription for reform that the subtitle makes it out to be. So you're in for lots of additional reading (or skimming) if that's not what drew you to the book. Second, she chronicles the decline of civility and compromise in Congress, and lays out how it can and should operate differently, without shedding much light on root causes. It's basically, "In the good old days, we respected each other. Let's go do that again." We need a far deeper understanding of the tides that are pushing us out to sea, not just more strong backs rowing, before we can chart an effective course back to common ground.
June 16, 2013
This book was written by one of the last Republican moderates (a dying breed). The best points in the book were her suggestions on how we can change congress.
Read
June 26, 2015Why Washington Political Thrillers Aren’t Real to Me and Why I Want to Write One / Author/filmmaker & Killer Nashville founder Clay Stafford
I’ve reviewed numerous Washington political and legal thrillers and mysteries over the past twenty years. After reading Fighting for Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress by Olympia Snowe, I came away feeling that many of the fiction authors I’m reading haven’t done their research or – perhaps even more disappointing – they have chosen to avoid genuine conflict in favor of commercially “safe” but superficial stories. It is good advice not to discuss politics or religion, as our own Killer Nashville Executive Director Beth Terrell reminded me, but a writer of political thriller set in the United States must cross the line on at least one of these. Unfortunately, in terms of setting, most political writers are not creating a realistic world, which is vital to any work of serious fiction. One can still have a plot, but it has to be set somewhere. Why not make it real? Very few in America are elected without Political Party support, that massive machine that every government itself has failed to regulate. Yet with all that power, how can writers fail to include the monster behind the machine?
Two disclaimers: 1) I have no Political Party affiliate, and 2) What I am writing below comes from the possibilities I see for setting from reading the above mentioned book. Olympia Snowe is a longstanding and respected Republican Senator. She has to walk the fine line between telling the complete truth as she knows it while at the same time not being offensive, but – as we know – a good fiction writer is not worried about being offensive. What I write below is what I got between the lines and, if you are a political fiction writer, what I’m about to give you is a truckload of conflict for your next book. On a positive note because I don’t want to give the impression that doom is irrevocably upon us as Americans, Snowe also writes about how to take America back. Though common ground doesn’t always work in the best interest of a fiction writer, fighting for this sort of unity would also make for a great story goal and would be adorned with its own conflicts towards completion (think about one of my favorite Jimmy Stewart man-against-the-machine movies Mr. Smith Goes to Washington).
First of all, let’s talk about Snowe and why she’s the expert to go to. A self-professed “skunk at the lawn party,” she’s a die-hard out-of-place Republican and has been an energetic participant in world-changing events from 1978 to present. Her political platform is based upon limited government, lower taxes, individual freedoms and responsibilities, and a strong national defense, which – frankly – I’ve heard from politicians on both sides of the spectrum. Only difference is that, unlike the Political Parties and most politicians of both parties currently in office, she actually does believe in them. She’s been an advocate for women business owners and mothers, minorities, and has – herself – had a tremendous uphill battle as a female Republican in what has traditionally been a male-dominated profession. Still another great source for story conflict.
Now, here is the situation and where writers can begin to see the possibilities (if you haven’t already) of including an actual political setting in their political thrillers. According to a recent poll cited by Snowe, sixty-six percent of Americans think their representatives don’t have a good understanding of the issues. Politicians have the lowest approval rating, below lawyers and bankers. Most Americans seem to think that public service has left politics, and maybe it has. But is it the politicians or the Political Parties? Like in the days in Germany before WWII, to play in the system, regardless of your personal opinions, you had to publicly become a Party man. Writers who want to write political thrillers set on any continent would be well advised to include the “machine” either in a positive or negative force.
Read these facts from Snowe’s book and tell me what you think. Common sense bills are bashed because unrelated agenda is attached, as in the failure of the Violence Against Women Act. Both Parties have a voting record of being unwilling to support the Balanced Budget Amendment, though in their press releases they spout the opposite. What about the GOP’s opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment? Or Senators and Congressman of both Parties being on record for opposing laws benefiting women and blacks in general. Or why is it that approval of scientific research has been geared towards men only (voted on by predominately male representatives)? How can issues such as abortion (through misinformation miles removed from reality coming from non-medical personnel) become more important to Political Parties than the living and real welfare of the citizens both Parties give voice to protecting. (Hot issue in our home state because we have a formally-married representative who is anti-abortion who is on court record as telling his marital affair girlfriends who became pregnant by him that they should have an abortion, but the Political Party supporting him won’t do anything about his conduct because he is an active supporter of the Party. Great conflict? You bet! It’s a soap opera.) Two-faced? Liars? Idiots? Far from it. They are brilliant snakes in the grass. How about this one? Theoretically intelligent apes acting as Senators come up with non-scientific theories of “legitimate rape” and if a woman gets pregnant during rape, “it was something God intended.” What if this were to happen to a character’s daughter? Or an actual representative from Tennessee? Is this the true meaning of “American Taliban”? Are these the unscientific-minded people who should really – based upon Party platforms – be overseeing and approving the content of our children’s schoolbooks? We are, after all in Tennessee, the home of the Scopes Monkey Trail. Not my kids. My preferred source for scientific information is a scientist, but these political characters do come with their own baggage, conflicts, and entertainment value. If there is anything I’ve learned from watching WWE with my son, it is that great villains make for great stories.
"Fighting For Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress" by Olympia Snowe
“Fighting For Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress” by Olympia Snowe
Here’s what I got from reading Snowe’s book (not what she explicitly wrote): 1) Political Parties are historically more interested in their Parties than in America, 2) Political Parties have historically more interest in their own preservation than in the U.S. Constitution, and 3) governing now is based upon reelection, not the best interests of America. All three could make daring undercurrents in a political story.
You see, it is not so much the politicians; it is the Parties themselves, which don’t seem to appear in ANY of the books I have reviewed. They are the missing character. I don’t even have to have the Parties identified by name, but their oppressive presence has to be there. Behind almost every snafu in American politics or integrity, hasn’t it been traced back by Senate, court, or journalistic investigation to decisions made, not by a politician, but by decisions on an unelected Party level? Experts on political history will back me up. If the politicians don’t follow Nazi-like to the Party line, in the next election, the Party will eat its own. By their own demands, centrist moderate politicians (such as Snowe) cannot be so IF they wish to be supported by their Political Party, the machines. Just recently we saw it in the fiasco of the development of the national health laws when even the House and Senate are separated from the president and from their own Parties per Snowe. You see this in watching Political Parties implode from within, politicians jumping ship, politicians being attacked by their own Parties at reelections. It is not so much that politicians no longer listen to those they represent, but in order to stay the course and maybe do some good, even the best politicians walk in fear of being one-term servants from the wrath of their own Party. How’s that for a conflict-riddled subplot? Reading Snowe’s book, you see why so much money is spent on attack ads: because the Parties and the hand-tied candidates themselves either want the attention off themselves or have nothing of merit to promote. All this makes me salivate thinking of the storylines that could come from all of this. When the tax code alone is 72,000 pages long and the U.S. borrows 40-cents for every $1 it spends while people here in the U.S. are starving, freezing, out-of-work, unable to afford an education or medicine, and the politicians are bickering in pettiness and accomplishing nothing or sending millions of dollars overseas that could be spent on Americans, I see conflict galore, I see Jimmy Stewart, I see characters with motives for good or ill, for greed and altruism. However, this reality and setting is not what I read about in the setting-barren American political thrillers and mysteries I review. Robert Penn Warren’s novel “All the King’s Men” is the closest one I’ve read to touch on the Machine behind the candidate. Incidentally, it won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize. That should tell you something. Political Parties are not what the story is about, but their presence is there, even in character reference.
Snowe takes sidebars that are just as interesting as her main points, which are all story ideas themselves, such as how divorced from real people Congress has become, how someone gets into politics, how government and Political Parties really work without the spin, how to impeach a president, how the U.S. Senate and House has lost its independence and has become the equivalent of the Party-controlled (puppet-controlled?) British parliament, how Tea Parties have ruined rather than helped America, and much, much more.
Before reading this book, I knew politics were in major dysfunction, but I never knew how badly nor what a great field this would be for storylines. If you are writing stories set in national politics today, this book is vital for your research. You walk away with the feeling of how a moderate centrist willing to work in a bipartisan capacity toward a solution that would benefit the majority of Americans has no place in either Party. There’s your underdog. Obviously, the wheel is broken. That’s a grand thing for a fiction writer. Writing about conflicts in context helps people see them more clearly. It is the responsibility of writers to include something in their work that elevates it to make people think, to make people lobby for changes, and to portray it accurately, not slant it like the conservative or liberal media organizations we are bombarded by and brainwashed to trust like a bunch of Pavlov dogs or, even worse, to make it so watered down like so many books I read so that it just becomes another mystery or thriller set in Washington. A writer who can get the facts straight before he or she writes a Washington political or legal thriller might find, with the pen being mightier than the sword, that he or she actually changes the way government works and has readers and critics cheering on his or her behalf. What better kudo than to say, “I wrote a bestselling book AND I also saved America.” The Cold War is over. Now, it seems, the enemy is within. That being said, this all makes me want to go write my own political thriller.
My Review of “Fighting For Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress on Killer Nashville
My Other Reviews on Killer Nashville
I’ve reviewed numerous Washington political and legal thrillers and mysteries over the past twenty years. After reading Fighting for Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress by Olympia Snowe, I came away feeling that many of the fiction authors I’m reading haven’t done their research or – perhaps even more disappointing – they have chosen to avoid genuine conflict in favor of commercially “safe” but superficial stories. It is good advice not to discuss politics or religion, as our own Killer Nashville Executive Director Beth Terrell reminded me, but a writer of political thriller set in the United States must cross the line on at least one of these. Unfortunately, in terms of setting, most political writers are not creating a realistic world, which is vital to any work of serious fiction. One can still have a plot, but it has to be set somewhere. Why not make it real? Very few in America are elected without Political Party support, that massive machine that every government itself has failed to regulate. Yet with all that power, how can writers fail to include the monster behind the machine?
Two disclaimers: 1) I have no Political Party affiliate, and 2) What I am writing below comes from the possibilities I see for setting from reading the above mentioned book. Olympia Snowe is a longstanding and respected Republican Senator. She has to walk the fine line between telling the complete truth as she knows it while at the same time not being offensive, but – as we know – a good fiction writer is not worried about being offensive. What I write below is what I got between the lines and, if you are a political fiction writer, what I’m about to give you is a truckload of conflict for your next book. On a positive note because I don’t want to give the impression that doom is irrevocably upon us as Americans, Snowe also writes about how to take America back. Though common ground doesn’t always work in the best interest of a fiction writer, fighting for this sort of unity would also make for a great story goal and would be adorned with its own conflicts towards completion (think about one of my favorite Jimmy Stewart man-against-the-machine movies Mr. Smith Goes to Washington).
First of all, let’s talk about Snowe and why she’s the expert to go to. A self-professed “skunk at the lawn party,” she’s a die-hard out-of-place Republican and has been an energetic participant in world-changing events from 1978 to present. Her political platform is based upon limited government, lower taxes, individual freedoms and responsibilities, and a strong national defense, which – frankly – I’ve heard from politicians on both sides of the spectrum. Only difference is that, unlike the Political Parties and most politicians of both parties currently in office, she actually does believe in them. She’s been an advocate for women business owners and mothers, minorities, and has – herself – had a tremendous uphill battle as a female Republican in what has traditionally been a male-dominated profession. Still another great source for story conflict.
Now, here is the situation and where writers can begin to see the possibilities (if you haven’t already) of including an actual political setting in their political thrillers. According to a recent poll cited by Snowe, sixty-six percent of Americans think their representatives don’t have a good understanding of the issues. Politicians have the lowest approval rating, below lawyers and bankers. Most Americans seem to think that public service has left politics, and maybe it has. But is it the politicians or the Political Parties? Like in the days in Germany before WWII, to play in the system, regardless of your personal opinions, you had to publicly become a Party man. Writers who want to write political thrillers set on any continent would be well advised to include the “machine” either in a positive or negative force.
Read these facts from Snowe’s book and tell me what you think. Common sense bills are bashed because unrelated agenda is attached, as in the failure of the Violence Against Women Act. Both Parties have a voting record of being unwilling to support the Balanced Budget Amendment, though in their press releases they spout the opposite. What about the GOP’s opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment? Or Senators and Congressman of both Parties being on record for opposing laws benefiting women and blacks in general. Or why is it that approval of scientific research has been geared towards men only (voted on by predominately male representatives)? How can issues such as abortion (through misinformation miles removed from reality coming from non-medical personnel) become more important to Political Parties than the living and real welfare of the citizens both Parties give voice to protecting. (Hot issue in our home state because we have a formally-married representative who is anti-abortion who is on court record as telling his marital affair girlfriends who became pregnant by him that they should have an abortion, but the Political Party supporting him won’t do anything about his conduct because he is an active supporter of the Party. Great conflict? You bet! It’s a soap opera.) Two-faced? Liars? Idiots? Far from it. They are brilliant snakes in the grass. How about this one? Theoretically intelligent apes acting as Senators come up with non-scientific theories of “legitimate rape” and if a woman gets pregnant during rape, “it was something God intended.” What if this were to happen to a character’s daughter? Or an actual representative from Tennessee? Is this the true meaning of “American Taliban”? Are these the unscientific-minded people who should really – based upon Party platforms – be overseeing and approving the content of our children’s schoolbooks? We are, after all in Tennessee, the home of the Scopes Monkey Trail. Not my kids. My preferred source for scientific information is a scientist, but these political characters do come with their own baggage, conflicts, and entertainment value. If there is anything I’ve learned from watching WWE with my son, it is that great villains make for great stories.
"Fighting For Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress" by Olympia Snowe
“Fighting For Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress” by Olympia Snowe
Here’s what I got from reading Snowe’s book (not what she explicitly wrote): 1) Political Parties are historically more interested in their Parties than in America, 2) Political Parties have historically more interest in their own preservation than in the U.S. Constitution, and 3) governing now is based upon reelection, not the best interests of America. All three could make daring undercurrents in a political story.
You see, it is not so much the politicians; it is the Parties themselves, which don’t seem to appear in ANY of the books I have reviewed. They are the missing character. I don’t even have to have the Parties identified by name, but their oppressive presence has to be there. Behind almost every snafu in American politics or integrity, hasn’t it been traced back by Senate, court, or journalistic investigation to decisions made, not by a politician, but by decisions on an unelected Party level? Experts on political history will back me up. If the politicians don’t follow Nazi-like to the Party line, in the next election, the Party will eat its own. By their own demands, centrist moderate politicians (such as Snowe) cannot be so IF they wish to be supported by their Political Party, the machines. Just recently we saw it in the fiasco of the development of the national health laws when even the House and Senate are separated from the president and from their own Parties per Snowe. You see this in watching Political Parties implode from within, politicians jumping ship, politicians being attacked by their own Parties at reelections. It is not so much that politicians no longer listen to those they represent, but in order to stay the course and maybe do some good, even the best politicians walk in fear of being one-term servants from the wrath of their own Party. How’s that for a conflict-riddled subplot? Reading Snowe’s book, you see why so much money is spent on attack ads: because the Parties and the hand-tied candidates themselves either want the attention off themselves or have nothing of merit to promote. All this makes me salivate thinking of the storylines that could come from all of this. When the tax code alone is 72,000 pages long and the U.S. borrows 40-cents for every $1 it spends while people here in the U.S. are starving, freezing, out-of-work, unable to afford an education or medicine, and the politicians are bickering in pettiness and accomplishing nothing or sending millions of dollars overseas that could be spent on Americans, I see conflict galore, I see Jimmy Stewart, I see characters with motives for good or ill, for greed and altruism. However, this reality and setting is not what I read about in the setting-barren American political thrillers and mysteries I review. Robert Penn Warren’s novel “All the King’s Men” is the closest one I’ve read to touch on the Machine behind the candidate. Incidentally, it won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize. That should tell you something. Political Parties are not what the story is about, but their presence is there, even in character reference.
Snowe takes sidebars that are just as interesting as her main points, which are all story ideas themselves, such as how divorced from real people Congress has become, how someone gets into politics, how government and Political Parties really work without the spin, how to impeach a president, how the U.S. Senate and House has lost its independence and has become the equivalent of the Party-controlled (puppet-controlled?) British parliament, how Tea Parties have ruined rather than helped America, and much, much more.
Before reading this book, I knew politics were in major dysfunction, but I never knew how badly nor what a great field this would be for storylines. If you are writing stories set in national politics today, this book is vital for your research. You walk away with the feeling of how a moderate centrist willing to work in a bipartisan capacity toward a solution that would benefit the majority of Americans has no place in either Party. There’s your underdog. Obviously, the wheel is broken. That’s a grand thing for a fiction writer. Writing about conflicts in context helps people see them more clearly. It is the responsibility of writers to include something in their work that elevates it to make people think, to make people lobby for changes, and to portray it accurately, not slant it like the conservative or liberal media organizations we are bombarded by and brainwashed to trust like a bunch of Pavlov dogs or, even worse, to make it so watered down like so many books I read so that it just becomes another mystery or thriller set in Washington. A writer who can get the facts straight before he or she writes a Washington political or legal thriller might find, with the pen being mightier than the sword, that he or she actually changes the way government works and has readers and critics cheering on his or her behalf. What better kudo than to say, “I wrote a bestselling book AND I also saved America.” The Cold War is over. Now, it seems, the enemy is within. That being said, this all makes me want to go write my own political thriller.
My Review of “Fighting For Common Ground: How We Can Fix the Stalemate in Congress on Killer Nashville
My Other Reviews on Killer Nashville
December 24, 2017
Not exactly a riveting book and at times was a little slow. However, I came to appreciate even more how much the republican party has strayed from its roots. The US was founded on compromise between men who strongly disagreed with each other. However, they all realized that in the end they had to come together and compromise. The republican party seems to have retold the founding of our country of men who never compromised and were wholly conservative and rarely disagreed. Snowe is a moderate or Rockerfeller republican from Maine. She spent 18 years in the senate and could have run for another term but pulled out due to Trumpism. In this book she documents how republican party has strayed from being reasonable to a party of no compromise and radicalism. It leads to disaster government management and it can't last forever before things fall apart. So sad that those few moderate republicans left are being shoved out.
October 10, 2020
Granted, I read this seven years after its publishing. But by the time it finally made it to the top of my queue it was Fall of 2020, right before the Trump v Biden election, and I thought it might be valuable to take a look back at the congressional mess that immediately preceded the Federal dumpster fire that is now. To a certain degree it was useful, but Sen. Snowe spends a lot of time on the minutia. I recommend this one only for people who are intrigued by the intricacies of the rules of the U.S. Senate.
November 17, 2022
Just a quick little reminder here that Senator Olympia Snowe was a REPUBLICAN white lady from New England who touts her time on the US Senate Finance Committee DURING and BEFORE the Great Recession to sell books as an author who is a "MINORITY AMONG MINORITIES." This book was published 10 minutes before Trump was elected. Suburban white ladies voted for Trump both times by a 6 point margin.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 21, 2024
I was more interested in Olympia’s personal story and state legislative career than her brand of politics, but I ended up also really appreciating her reflections on serving the people of Maine in Washington from the late 1970s to the early 2010s.
October 30, 2013
I rated this book more on its message than on the writing, since I like and support Olympia Snowe's ideas. With Congressional approval ratings lately being in the 9% to 13% range, clearly most Americans think Congress must change its ways. The Country has become much more polarized over the past fifty years, and compromise to find solutions to our Nation's problems is now a dirty word.
In "Fighting for Common Ground", former Senator Snowe discusses the problems with our current political process, describes why compromise isn't a sign of weakness, and offers ideas to turn things around.
Recommendations are included in her book for members of the public who agree that Washington isn't working, and that a middle ground must be found in order for solutions to be implemented. Among them are supporting or becoming active in one (or more) of the following organizations:
Third Way
No Lables
Main Street Partnership
Campaign to Fix the Debt
National Institute for Civil Discourse
Olympia's List
www.thirdway.org
Third Way represents Americans in the “vital center” — those who believe in pragmatic solutions and principled compromise, but who too often are ignored in Washington.
www.nolabels.org
No Labels is a nationwide, grassroots movement of Republicans, Democrats and everyone in-between. They are united by the conviction that people with different beliefs can set aside the labels and come together to solve our nation's pressing problems. They're demanding that Congress work five days a week, and worked to pass a No Budget, No Pay policy for Congress.
www.republicanmainstreet.org
The Republican Main Street Partnership was founded in 1993 to promote thoughtful leadership in the Republican Party and to develop and advocate for pragmatic common sense solutions to the challenges our country faces.
www.fixthedebt.org
The Campaign to Fix the Debt is a non-partisan movement to put America on a better fiscal and economic path. They have come together from a variety of social, economic and political perspectives, around the common belief that America's growing federal debt threatens our future and that we must address it. The Campaign mobilizes key leaders from business, government, and policy, and people all across America who want to see elected officials step up to solve our nation's fiscal challenges.
www.olympiaslist.org
The purpose of this website is to provide a gathering point for all who believe our elected officials need to put the country ahead of politics, to facilitate the distribution of news about activities taking place to further that goal, and to identify and support like-minded candidates and office holders. Government can work again, but only when Americans support and vote for individuals who will follow the principles of consensus-building.
nicd.arizona.edu
The National Institute for Civil Discourse supports a media that informs and engages the citizens. The inability of our leaders to deal effectively with pressing issues like deficit reduction, tax reform and job growth is imperiling our economic future. The media exacerbate the problem by focusing on the most extreme voices and sound bites, oversimplifying issues and neglecting the multiplicity of opinions and approaches needed to solve these complex policy problems. Chaired by former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, the National Institute for Civil Discourse is committed to fostering an open exchange of ideas and expression of values that will lead to better problem-solving and more effective government.
In "Fighting for Common Ground", former Senator Snowe discusses the problems with our current political process, describes why compromise isn't a sign of weakness, and offers ideas to turn things around.
Recommendations are included in her book for members of the public who agree that Washington isn't working, and that a middle ground must be found in order for solutions to be implemented. Among them are supporting or becoming active in one (or more) of the following organizations:
Third Way
No Lables
Main Street Partnership
Campaign to Fix the Debt
National Institute for Civil Discourse
Olympia's List
www.thirdway.org
Third Way represents Americans in the “vital center” — those who believe in pragmatic solutions and principled compromise, but who too often are ignored in Washington.
www.nolabels.org
No Labels is a nationwide, grassroots movement of Republicans, Democrats and everyone in-between. They are united by the conviction that people with different beliefs can set aside the labels and come together to solve our nation's pressing problems. They're demanding that Congress work five days a week, and worked to pass a No Budget, No Pay policy for Congress.
www.republicanmainstreet.org
The Republican Main Street Partnership was founded in 1993 to promote thoughtful leadership in the Republican Party and to develop and advocate for pragmatic common sense solutions to the challenges our country faces.
www.fixthedebt.org
The Campaign to Fix the Debt is a non-partisan movement to put America on a better fiscal and economic path. They have come together from a variety of social, economic and political perspectives, around the common belief that America's growing federal debt threatens our future and that we must address it. The Campaign mobilizes key leaders from business, government, and policy, and people all across America who want to see elected officials step up to solve our nation's fiscal challenges.
www.olympiaslist.org
The purpose of this website is to provide a gathering point for all who believe our elected officials need to put the country ahead of politics, to facilitate the distribution of news about activities taking place to further that goal, and to identify and support like-minded candidates and office holders. Government can work again, but only when Americans support and vote for individuals who will follow the principles of consensus-building.
nicd.arizona.edu
The National Institute for Civil Discourse supports a media that informs and engages the citizens. The inability of our leaders to deal effectively with pressing issues like deficit reduction, tax reform and job growth is imperiling our economic future. The media exacerbate the problem by focusing on the most extreme voices and sound bites, oversimplifying issues and neglecting the multiplicity of opinions and approaches needed to solve these complex policy problems. Chaired by former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, the National Institute for Civil Discourse is committed to fostering an open exchange of ideas and expression of values that will lead to better problem-solving and more effective government.
April 13, 2014
This book starts at on an assumption that you’re not new to the politics of our country. Our national political system being a two party system has served our country well for hundreds of years based on the fact that our elected officials have civility and a common goal to work together to solve the county’s problems. This has been undone since the rise of extreme partisan politics (see “Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America“ by Levin, Mark). The Republican Party has become the insurgent party with all the hostile rhetoric and paranoid thinking of Tea Party. The Republican Party has even overtly acknowledged that they’re purpose is to crash the congressional system in hopes to take it over in its ashes. In the wake of this master plan we see things like the Tea Party attempting to elect far right wing candidates to office who will not compromise their positions by working together with others to solve the nation’s problems. This means nothing gets done in Congress because the extremists have gotten their way.
Ms. Snowe provides many examples of this in her book from the position of a moderate Republican. How the Tea Party crashed the Maine convention and was downright rude to the rest of the Republicans there. How GOP has adopted litmus tests for support, and candidates no longer campaigning for each other based on political tests. She also cites that the extremists are purveyors of purity, attempting to exclude many, and therefore not interested in consensus building.
In addition to explaining Ms. Snowe’s personal philosophy, this book attempts to move the national discourse forward on how we’re talking to each other. This meta discussion was started some years ago, I must commend Ms. Snowe for such a timely book on dealing with one of the burning issues of today's society - incivility in society and partisan politics. When Ms. Snowe delineated her position of a moderate Republican, I was surprised. After hearing for so many years of the Republican’s intolerance to so many (what seemed to be Democratic) positions, I should have known better that the political spectrum would include moderate Republicans whom I would have so much agreement with. So it was no surprise to me that I found myself agreeing with so many of her positions. As the party shifts further to the right, they’re going to lose more and more of us at the center. Ms. Snowe’s book talks to us at the center, urging us to participate in the process more as a counter balance to the extremists who are trying to hijack the system to their ends. Ms. Snowe provides many examples of how we can help. If you liked Thomas Mann’s “It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the Politics of Extremism” then I recommend you pick up this book.
Ms. Snowe provides many examples of this in her book from the position of a moderate Republican. How the Tea Party crashed the Maine convention and was downright rude to the rest of the Republicans there. How GOP has adopted litmus tests for support, and candidates no longer campaigning for each other based on political tests. She also cites that the extremists are purveyors of purity, attempting to exclude many, and therefore not interested in consensus building.
In addition to explaining Ms. Snowe’s personal philosophy, this book attempts to move the national discourse forward on how we’re talking to each other. This meta discussion was started some years ago, I must commend Ms. Snowe for such a timely book on dealing with one of the burning issues of today's society - incivility in society and partisan politics. When Ms. Snowe delineated her position of a moderate Republican, I was surprised. After hearing for so many years of the Republican’s intolerance to so many (what seemed to be Democratic) positions, I should have known better that the political spectrum would include moderate Republicans whom I would have so much agreement with. So it was no surprise to me that I found myself agreeing with so many of her positions. As the party shifts further to the right, they’re going to lose more and more of us at the center. Ms. Snowe’s book talks to us at the center, urging us to participate in the process more as a counter balance to the extremists who are trying to hijack the system to their ends. Ms. Snowe provides many examples of how we can help. If you liked Thomas Mann’s “It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the Politics of Extremism” then I recommend you pick up this book.
January 20, 2014
I grew up in Northern Maine, Aroostook County influenced by Rep Snowe on many levels. Not just by having her as a representative, but being able to see how her office was run in “The County.” My step-mother took me to several ERA meetings as a young girl and as I grew up I witnessed the several veterans that she helped and families in need. Since I have moved from Maine to the South, I have seen so many changes within the Republican party and I felt some peace that Oylmpia was still in there minding their Ps and Qs, however the day I watched Oylmpia speak on her choice to not run again I sat down and cried, it was losing the one last chance of hope for our country. I also told people that the only sane Republican left up there (to me at least) was Rep. Snowe and now she was gone. The quote from Bob Schieffer (Face The Nation) pg. 23, “What does it say about the state of our government and politics when serious people (like Olympia Snowe) conclude that serving in the United States Senate is no longer worth their time and effort? That’s the part that should worry the rest of us” rang true. Then I found out she had a book and I knew I had to read it, I had to find out what she was thinking and what was going on up “on the hill.”
As a moderate it was refreshing to read that others felt like they were on the game show survivor where none of the tribes wanted you. I plan on looking into the different moderate grass-roots groups she lists at the end of the book because feeling like you are the only one that might have some common sense in the world is upsetting.
I suggest anyone who feels disenchanted by our government, despite your party choices to read this book. Snowe lays out solutions for a bipartenship government that could work if we the people speak up, without reaching out to the Republicans and Democrats to work together the only change we will see is for the worse and not for the better
As a moderate it was refreshing to read that others felt like they were on the game show survivor where none of the tribes wanted you. I plan on looking into the different moderate grass-roots groups she lists at the end of the book because feeling like you are the only one that might have some common sense in the world is upsetting.
I suggest anyone who feels disenchanted by our government, despite your party choices to read this book. Snowe lays out solutions for a bipartenship government that could work if we the people speak up, without reaching out to the Republicans and Democrats to work together the only change we will see is for the worse and not for the better
February 3, 2023
This was not what I expected, exactly. The only really bad thing I can really say about this book is that it is — only somewhat — oddly titled (in my opinion). The majority of this book is an autobiography of her years in Washington and before.
The chapter on her childhood was oddly placed in this book. It goes from her talking about the contrast of how Congress was when she was in the house and senate to what it was like when she was debating whether she should run again (and what announcing her departure was like) to her childhood. After that chapter, it goes back to her political chapters.
Aside the odd placement, the chapter on her childhood was somewhat difficult to read; in the sense that it sounds emotionally painful. Losing both parents at a young age is not something I’d wish on my worst enemy.
As I read on, it was refreshing to read of a Republican that doesn’t have a very optimistic view of the Tea Party movement (does it even still exist??). Her words about it, I felt, correctly described its positives and negatives.
The final two/three chapters of the book are the ones that make the title make ‘some’ sense. She outlines options for what can be done, and then gives a list of organizations that we, as voters, can support in the hope of a more bipartisan congress. Despite the head scratching title, given what most of this book was, I give it three stars. It would've gotten more, but I thought the descriptions she gave about family member deaths was unnecessary.
Random note, added 7/12/2019: I found this book at a Dollar Tree store. They'd been trying to sell their copies of it for quite some time. I'm talking years. I also kept noticing the book at several Goodwill's within a half hours' drive in any direction and find it amusing that while Dollar Tree was selling this book for $1.00, Goodwill was selling it for $6.99.
The chapter on her childhood was oddly placed in this book. It goes from her talking about the contrast of how Congress was when she was in the house and senate to what it was like when she was debating whether she should run again (and what announcing her departure was like) to her childhood. After that chapter, it goes back to her political chapters.
Aside the odd placement, the chapter on her childhood was somewhat difficult to read; in the sense that it sounds emotionally painful. Losing both parents at a young age is not something I’d wish on my worst enemy.
As I read on, it was refreshing to read of a Republican that doesn’t have a very optimistic view of the Tea Party movement (does it even still exist??). Her words about it, I felt, correctly described its positives and negatives.
The final two/three chapters of the book are the ones that make the title make ‘some’ sense. She outlines options for what can be done, and then gives a list of organizations that we, as voters, can support in the hope of a more bipartisan congress. Despite the head scratching title, given what most of this book was, I give it three stars. It would've gotten more, but I thought the descriptions she gave about family member deaths was unnecessary.
Random note, added 7/12/2019: I found this book at a Dollar Tree store. They'd been trying to sell their copies of it for quite some time. I'm talking years. I also kept noticing the book at several Goodwill's within a half hours' drive in any direction and find it amusing that while Dollar Tree was selling this book for $1.00, Goodwill was selling it for $6.99.
January 12, 2015
Dear Olympia Snowe -
I recently read your book and enjoyed it. It's a nice mixture of your life and how you got into politics and what you did while you were there.
Although I am a Democrat and you are Republican, I found we agreed on many issues, such as women's rights and the social safety nets. I also believe in fiscal responsibility.
But the main purpose of your book was to tell us how to "fix the stalemate in Congress." You do have a chapter on that in the book and I can pretty much agree with everything there.
So why am I writing to you? Because all the "fixes" in the book depend on the key trait of civility and willingness to work with others in spite of your beliefs. Obviously, no one can have their entire world view included in legislation, but, as you mention most forthrightly, the Republican party has shifted dangerously rightward and people for whom willingness to modify their ideology to write reasonable legislation is death are basically running the show.
How do you get these people to be civil? To see that ideology does not make good politics? That politics is the art of the possible? Not some pie in the sky perfect world.
Your other solutions hinge on that one. Until we can get reason back into the minds of all legislators, we won't be able to move forward on the rest.
Can you please tell me how we can do that?
I recently read your book and enjoyed it. It's a nice mixture of your life and how you got into politics and what you did while you were there.
Although I am a Democrat and you are Republican, I found we agreed on many issues, such as women's rights and the social safety nets. I also believe in fiscal responsibility.
But the main purpose of your book was to tell us how to "fix the stalemate in Congress." You do have a chapter on that in the book and I can pretty much agree with everything there.
So why am I writing to you? Because all the "fixes" in the book depend on the key trait of civility and willingness to work with others in spite of your beliefs. Obviously, no one can have their entire world view included in legislation, but, as you mention most forthrightly, the Republican party has shifted dangerously rightward and people for whom willingness to modify their ideology to write reasonable legislation is death are basically running the show.
How do you get these people to be civil? To see that ideology does not make good politics? That politics is the art of the possible? Not some pie in the sky perfect world.
Your other solutions hinge on that one. Until we can get reason back into the minds of all legislators, we won't be able to move forward on the rest.
Can you please tell me how we can do that?
August 24, 2016
If you are fed up with the 2016 presidential election race; if you are disgusted with how the Senate and Congress now do nothing but fight; if you are frustrated that nothing ever gets done on Capitol Hill anymore, you should read this book. I've been a Democrat for a long time, but I love what this Republican speaks about in a frank, direct manner. In a nutshell, she promotes nine significant reforms that gives Senators and Congressmen the tools they need to be successful (I'll be posting these on Facebook!):
- Instate filibuster reform.
- Create a more open amendment process.
- Eliminate so-called secret holds on legislation.
- Pass "No Budget, No Pay."
- Require biennial budgeting.
- Restore the authorization process.
- Adhere to five-day workweeks.
- Establish a Bipartisan Leadership Committee.
- Return to the regular order of doing legislative business through committees.
Yes, it's 281 pages. But, if you read at least the last 100 pages, it may make you a believer (like me) that our children need this reform to have a chance a a better life.
- Instate filibuster reform.
- Create a more open amendment process.
- Eliminate so-called secret holds on legislation.
- Pass "No Budget, No Pay."
- Require biennial budgeting.
- Restore the authorization process.
- Adhere to five-day workweeks.
- Establish a Bipartisan Leadership Committee.
- Return to the regular order of doing legislative business through committees.
Yes, it's 281 pages. But, if you read at least the last 100 pages, it may make you a believer (like me) that our children need this reform to have a chance a a better life.
July 27, 2013
An interesting commentary from a moderate Republican (an endangered species) on what's wrong with Congress and how to fix it. She sees the primary role of someone elected to Congress as a solution seeker - someone who gets things done in the interest of the people, someone willing to compromise personal beliefs for the greater good. A lifelong Republican who believes in fiscal responsibility, she is also a pragmatist who believes in operating in the current context (and would never sign a pledge on something like never raising taxes) and a centrist who believes you get the best legislation for all through listening to all sides and steering a middle course. She also seems to spend a lot of personal time on researching what she is working on, whether in a committee or when voting on the floor. Wish there were more like her!
October 9, 2013
It is difficult for me to read books about our government because our government is so vast. Authors often confuse us with too many names, too many abbreviations of organizations within this humongous organ. I wonder what kinds of minds they have to gain such a huge grasp of the enormous complexities. Snowe does a great job though sometimes her syntax gets overly elaborte- probably the occasions demand no leas.Anyone in an electd office must be genius scheduling their time to accomplish or even be a part of such a committee ridden body politic.
April 25, 2015
Reading Olympia Snowe's book at the same time as I'm reading Edward Kennedy's biography provide an interesting juxtaposition. Both of them spend a lot of time telling you who was with them in what meeting. Snowe also writes the book to be an advocate for more compromise and bipartisanship. She makes clear what Senate rules should change or be enforced that would allow for more compromise. I think her analysis of where things stand is probably right, but I'm not sure I really understood how she's changing things by leaving the Senate.
May 17, 2013
Former Senator Snowe's book started out exceptionally strong, yet around the middle there seemed to be a few too many excuses made for President GW Bush. That aside, Snowe puts forth some very common-sense driven suggestions to fix the United States Senate, as well as the uncivil political discourse in the United States. I've always admired the Senator and her book causes me to continue so to do.
November 1, 2013
I think everyone in the country should read this book, especially chapter 14. Olympia, a moderate Republican, lists numerous changes that could be made to improve our currently dysfunctional political system. Some examples: Pass no budget, no pay to Congress law; make Congress adhere to five day workweeks; establish a Bipartisan Leadership Committtee; institute filibuster reform, to name just a few.
June 14, 2013
I received this through Goodreads First Reads program. Given the dysfunction amongst our leaders in DC I am interested to see what Sen Snowe has to say.
UPDATE: though I like some of the ideas, I do not find this all that well-written or interesting - too much details about minutiae
Not sure ill finish it.
UPDATE: though I like some of the ideas, I do not find this all that well-written or interesting - too much details about minutiae
Not sure ill finish it.
October 10, 2013
I picked this book out of my pile after the government shut down began. It was very timely and gave me some valuable insight into the workings of Congress and why we have reached this point. I did not agree with all of her suggestions, but isn't that the point? The book is also part memoir, and worth the read.
October 6, 2013
I found the initial chapter about her decision to leave Congress just too detailed and mundane, the next chapter made me realize how little I knew about how the government works, perhaps someday I will tackle this one again but am making a dash for fluff!
January 18, 2014
She clearly describes how ineffective our government has become. I wish she had gone into a little more detail of how she picked the Republican party. Her ideas at the end are good although I don't see much chance of them happening, such as congress not getting paid unless they pass a budget.
March 8, 2014
From the Maine legislature to the House and then the Senate, Olympia spent 40 years in public service. This book tells about her background, her time in the legislature, her frustration over the current situation in Congress and her suggestions for making it better. Well done.
January 26, 2017
I very much miss the civility and collaborative consensus building exemplified by former Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and wish there were more moderates in Congress willing to compromise for the good of the nation instead of adhering to rigid partisan ideological dogmatism.
December 5, 2013
Couldn't finish this. Didn't grab me.
April 18, 2019
How do we fix the congressional impasse? Olympia has some sensible ideas.
April 28, 2015
Sensible. You'd just want her in the room.
August 18, 2014
great read...
April 13, 2017
I am finding this book to be an interesting read. However, I found the beginning to be a bit dry,but once you get into it, it's very interesting.
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