Building Alliances across Political Lines

A bill backed by both Koch Industries and the ACLU sailed through the U.S. Senate with almost nine out of ten votes. In an era of constant political trench warfare, how does that happen? Today, we drop into the room where sworn opponents decide to become uneasy allies.

Most “across-the-aisle” efforts fail long before a vote is taken. They die in the first 30 minutes, when people posture for their own side, argue about who’s to blame, and never get to what they could actually do together. The alliances that survive those first 30 minutes look very different. They start by shrinking the goal. Instead of “fixing democracy,” they target one rule, one program, one budget line. In Congress, cross-party bills that succeed are more likely to focus on a single statute or funding stream than on sweeping reform packages. Outside legislatures, the same pattern appears: in one study of 50 local campaigns that united business, labor, and community groups, the winners almost always rallied around a tightly specified change—like raising a city’s minimum wage by a set dollar amount, or creating one new oversight board with a clear mandate.

When coalitions stay small and concrete, they can also widen who’s in the room. The FIRST STEP Act didn’t try to remake the justice system; it focused on sentencing and prison programs, and that narrow scope let groups as far apart as Koch Industries and the ACLU push together. In Congress, the 58-member Problem Solvers Caucus uses a similar tactic: members pick a single, discrete target—like a specific permitting rule—then recruit colleagues from both parties around that one fix. Notice the pattern: precise goals don’t limit participation; they make risk-taking safer for more people.