American voters are deeply dissatisfied with the government in Washington. They feel shut out of Congressional deliberations. We discuss a promising new initiative that helps engage citizens much more directly in the work of Congress and state legislatures.

While Congressional gridlock has reached a new high, groundbreaking new research that we report on in this episode shows that the American people are far less polarized than elected officials. There is extensive bipartisan common ground on a surprising range of controversial issues— from abortion and immigration to the environment and law enforcement.

Our guests are Gail Hoffman, President of The Hoffman Group, a public affairs strategist and consultant for the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland, and Voice of the People. She has served in federal and state government, including in the Clinton White House and in the U.S. Justice Department under Attorney General Janet Reno. JP Thomas is Voice of the People's Director of External Relations, and an organizer and government relations professional, who develops campaigns and strategies to promote the use of public consultation to consult citizens on key public policy issues.

"When you actually look at the things that need to be done to fix things in this country, the degree of agreement and commonality is remarkable," Gail tells us. The debate in Congress is not a reflection of the American people and where they stand and the American people know that."

The Program for Public Consultation has developed detailed policymaking simulations that put citizens in the shoes of a policymaker. They get a briefing on policy options under consideration and evaluate the pros and cons of an issue and then make recommendations. We walk through this process and discuss how this detailed research is profoundly different from traditional polls and surveys of voters.

This effort to "put the public back in public service" was recently featured in The New York Times.

Recommendation: Richard enjoyed the hit movie "Top Gun: Maverick". We discuss the impact of the film's enormous success at the box office.