What Does it Mean to Be Transpartisan?

The term “Transpartisan” has emerged to provide a meaningful alternative to “Bipartisan” and “Nonpartisan.” Bipartisanship is limited to a debate among two political viewpoints or entities striving for compromise solutions. Nonpartisanship, on the other hand, tends to deny the existence of differing viewpoints. In contrast, transpartisanship recognizes the validity of all points of view and values a constructive dialogue aimed at arriving at creative, integrated, and therefore, breakthrough solutions that meet the needs of all sides.

What are Transpartisan Values?

• Listen to, respect and value other points of view
• Question old assumptions and suspend automatic judgments
• Seek to understand, not persuade
• Speak as you would wish to be spoken to
• Listen more, talk less, and speak authentically about what really matters to you
• Seek out common values and common ground for cooperation.

• Brent McMillian, Executive Director, Green Party
• Fred Smith, President, Competitive Enterprise Institute
• Nancy Ross, Political Director, Committee for a Unified Independent Party
• Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform
• Mark Gerzon, Author, Leading Through Conflict, President, Mediators Foundation
• Sandy Heierbacher, Director, National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation
• Joan Blades, Co-founder, MoveOn.org, President, MomsRising.org
• Michael Ostrolenk, Director of Coalitions, Campaign for Libery
• Peggy Holman, Author, The Change Handbook
• John Steiner, Chair, Transpartisan Center
• David Korten, Co-founder, Positive Futures Network
• Cheryl Graeve, Membership Director, League of Women Voters
• Juanita Brown, Co-founder, The World Cafe
• Steve Bhaerman, Co-author, Spontaneous Evolution


"Participating in the work of the Transpartisan Alliance has been a wonderful opportunity to get past the preconceptions and stereotypes and focus on our common interests. For me, not only has it opened doors, but it has granted me access to state of the art tools for dialogue and deliberation. It has empowered me to act as an agent of change for best practice in my own organization as well as in the broader community." – Brent McMillan, Executive Director, Green Party of the United States

“In the best of times, good solutions to difficult problems benefit from good communication. But in times of difficulty, when the stakes in political and policy decisions are high – when our nation’s security or its fiscal well-being ride on knowledge, transparency and timeliness – transpartisan communication becomes critically important. The Transpartisan Alliance’s Campaign to Unite America fosters communication between people and across political divides in a way that serves as a model for public policy participants in and out of government.” – Bob Barr, Former Member of Congress, Presidential Nominee, Libertarian Party

“Joseph and I share a core belief that citizen engagement is crucial to a healthy democracy. The Transpartisan Alliance’s campaign to connect citizens one conversation at a time is a marvelous way to begin to realize our highest dreams.” – Joan Blades, Co-founder, MoveOn.org, President, MomsRising.org

“The transpartisan movement has begun to move America beyond the stale partisan rhetoric and fixed bayonets of past arguments…and look anew at old challenges that unite Americans more than they divide us." – Grover Norquist, conservative activist, President, Americans for Tax Reform

"The transpartisan movement is beginning to foster so much communication across the partisan boundaries that the boundaries themselves are beginning to be much more porous." – Al Gore, Former Vice President