CONCORD

American politics asks you to cut your conscience in half. One party defends the unborn and the family but strains against the poor, the stranger, and the land. The other serves the poor, the stranger, and the land but strains against the unborn, the family, and the free conscience. Each offers you belonging at the price of half of what you believe, and millions of us have quietly concluded that the price is too high.

We think the whole conviction can be held in one place, and we have written it down. The Concord Charter states eleven principles, drawn from the long tradition of Christian social teaching and knowable by reason and conscience, and refuses to trade any of them away. It is a founding document being drafted in the open: argued over, amended, and improved in public, before it belongs to anyone.

The Eleven Principles

1. IThe Dignity of Every Person
2. IIThe Sanctity of Life
3. IIIThe Claim of the Poor and the Sick
4. IVJust Structures
5. VThe Care of Creation
6. VIThe Welcome of the Stranger
7. VIIOrdered Liberty
8. VIIIThe Family
9. IXPeace Through Restraint
10. XThe Generational Covenant
11. XIConscience for All

Right now, Concord is exactly what you see: a charter, an argument, and a weekly letter called The Concord Line that measures both parties against one fixed standard, floor votes and all, allies flunked when they earn it. No dues, no donations, no candidates. First the standard, then the people who hold it.

Read the charter. If it names what you already believe, follow the drafting and pass it to one person who is as politically homeless as you are.