The alternate domination of one faction over another, natural to party dissension...is itself a frightful despotism. - George Washington

George Washington's nightmare has been realized. In his farewell address in 1796, Washington cautioned against the baneful effects of political parties. Despite his warning, the U.S. government has become paralyzed by partisanship, while national challenges go unaddressed.

As an independent candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018, Neal Simon was a witness to the destructive nature of modern American politics. He experienced firsthand the perverse incentives that push candidates and lawmakers to ideological extremes. He saw the resistance of party leaders to pragmatic solutions to our nation's problems. He watched politicians, responding rationally to current electoral incentives, prioritize loyalty to their party bases over progress for the American people.

In this analysis of United States politics, Simon shows how degradations in party primaries, campaign finances, and election rules have caused American self government to collapse into gridlock and divisiveness. But the American promise is so much greater. The basis of our political systems, the first U.S. president noted in his famed address, is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. Capitalizing on personal insight derived from Simon's political campaign along with extensive research, Contract to Unite America provides specific, practical solutions for an improved government and a better tomorrow.