PRINCIPLE #1: MODERATION
We expect all FORWARD candidates, affiliates, and elected officials to embrace moderation over polarization, reject extremism, and be willing to compromise whenever they address tough issues, electoral challenges, and legislation.
Rationale: To tackle real problems on behalf of our citizens, we need functioning government bodies—at every level, from the city to the state. But extreme polarization within and across our two major political parties (and the “angertainment” industries that thrive on it) is actively dividing families, friends, and communities. It’s preventing politicians from doing their jobs, from getting anything done. And it’s just getting worse. Taken to extremes, by the far left or the far right, polarization threatens our fragile democracy with escalating vilification and, often, violence. As a new kind of political party, FORWARD refuses to abandon our society, democracy, or nation to extremists at either end of the spectrum, or anywhere in between.