Thanks for being here. This new project is under development, as we explore emerging new ideas in the development of inclusive political community.

Objectives

This project is intended to support individual human freedom of expression, by providing ways that a participant can quickly profile their interests and individuality, in a context that can be accurately shared with millions of other people. Though you can write about yourself in prose, the options available on our Create Your Alliance sequence provide a way you can quickly click through a wide array of brief bullet-points, describing yourself in broad terms that can be shared with others.

Design

• This project is about bringing people and organizations together who may differ significantly on issues or philosophy, but who are a part of the American conversation and who must be included in a comprehensive and balanced context.

• To participate in the Alliance, the first step is to agree to treat all members with respect at all times. There are some additional principles and ideas on how this works, and you are invited to complete this agreement.

• We are adding a series of important issues to the system. You can check off issues that interest you here.

• The real question we are working on is -- what should we do about the issues that concern us? Organizations that are members of the Alliance can offer their agenda items regarding this issue -- member organizations insert their action points, and all members can select from them. When multiple members check off the same agenda items, an "instant electronic alliance" is formed on that action point. You can update your agenda here. Right now, we don't yet have a lot of agenda items available -- we're working on that.

• For now, we are working to develop a network of organizations that wish to come into the Alliance. It's not yet clear exactly how we define an "organization" (without a good definition, absolutely anything could be an organization, inclduing an organization with one member), but one possible standard is that the organization has 501c3 non-profit status from the IRS, or some other similar legal standing. This criteria is important, because, in the current design, only an organization can propose agenda items -- what "we want to do" about a particular issue. You invited to suggest or help enroll new organizations, or to list your own organization.

Profile and Preferences

From your Profile and Preferences page, you can upload your photo, and edit your contact information, your email address, your password, your email subscriptions (subscribe/unsubscribe), and some other descriptive fields.

Organizations

If you work with or represent an organization, you are invited to add your organizationto the Alliance.

If you know of an organization that you believe would be interested in joining the Alliance, please invite them to join.

The vision for the Purple Alliance is that we will be able to attract into this framework a wide variety of organizations with expertise or insight or informed opinions on the important issues we are considering. We are supposing that these organizations can provide a kind of leadership and motivated perspective, which can be intersected with the views of other organizations concerned with related issues.

By bringing these organizations together into a coherent and well-organized space, we are hoping that our emerging "agenda" can evolve in a highly informed and responsible way, including and balancing all factors relevant to some issue.

"People on the right are furious. People on the left are livid. And the center isn't holding. There is only one thing on which almost everyone agrees: there is something very wrong in Washington. The country is being run by pollsters. Few politicians are able to win the voter's trust. Blame abounds and personal responsibility is nowhere to be found. There is a cynicism that appalls those in every state, red or blue. The question is: Why? The more urgent question is: What can be done about it?" Politics Lost: How American Democracy was Trivialized by People Who Think You're Stupid Joe Klein, Time Magazine columnist, Doubleday 2006

The election of Barack Obama seemed to promise the possibility of a new politics. He told us that we are not red states and blue states, we are the United States. He preached citizenship, not partisanship. He invited us to "form a more perfect union". He said that it was about "us", not him. He told us that our politics was broken, and he wanted to fix it. Millions of us were thrilled to hear this. But today, the partisan tone of American politics is more shrill than ever. Instead of coming together around new ideals, we are divided and angry. Instead of working together to solve our problems, too many of our political leaders concentrate on attacking and defeating one another. The truth is distorted. Congress is overwhelmed and gridlocked. Important issues are never discussed. Problems don't get solved. We need something new. We need a new movement, a new way to understand and empower democracy. We need to work together. We need to see our diversity as a strength, as a source of breadth and power and balance. Issues today are complex and we need to see them from as many points of view as possible. Through this emerging new Purple Alliance, we are discovering new ways to come together, new ways to organize, new ways to grow a movement. We're exploring new possibilities for building a collective understanding that liberates the power of democracy and the creative energy of the American people. You are invited to share your insights and talents along the path of this creative adventure.