LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It doesn't take much to see America is a politically divided nation.
Any glance at a newspaper front page, TV screen or phone shows that.
But how do we get beyond that?
A new group called the Nevada Forum is working hard to answer that question, by focusing not on politics or elected officials, but on the issues that people might have in common. Here's how:
Already, the forum has interviewed more than 10,700 people all across Nevada, from rural and urban areas and of all political stripes.
Those meetings have produced a preliminary list of issues that concern Nevadans.
That list (in random order):
- Help for seniors on fixed incomes
- Government accountability
- Political polarization
- Managing natural resources
- Infrastructure
- Election integrity
- Uncontrolled growth
- Mental health
- K-12 education
- A monopoly energy provider
- Campaign finance
- Homelessness
- Economic reforms
- Water scarcity
- The cost of health care
- The cost of living
- Housing
- The DMV and insurance
- Workforce training programs
- Fuel prices
If you don't see your top issue on the list, you can visit the group's website to add your voice, and to find out about future meetings that in which you can participate. The address is https:./www.nvforum.org
Andrew Shue, the actor and activist best known for his role on the show "Melrose Place," is heading up the Nevada Forum and similar efforts in New Hampshire and South Carolina. (All, like Nevada, are swing states where would-be presidential candidates will make visits in advance of the 2028 election.)
Shue said in an interview with Channel 13 that he's not naive about the scope of the challenge he's facing.
"I find meaning in doing something that brings people together and doing things that are hard," he said. "This is an incredible challenge, but I kind of feel a sense of duty. I feel like we all need to figure out how to play our part and to be valued in this moment. And I think people want to do something. They want to play their part, and they don't know what to do."
So far, the interest seems to bear that out: Although Nevada isn't known for being a politically engaged state, the more than 10,000 people who've turned out so far show there's interest in the idea, at least.
Ultimately, Shue says, the goal is to build support behind a pared-down list of issues, and maybe get a bill passed in Carson City in the 2027 session. That proof of concept could show the approach is something that could work on a national level, Shue says.
"And I think the other exciting thing here is to give political cover to legislators who want to do some of the tough things, and there isn't necessarily the will," he says. "So this creates that super-majority energy that gives political cover. And I think that that political will has been lacking on these big issues."
In addition to getting the focus off of personalities, political philosophy and partisanship, Shue says the Nevada Forum approach also takes the focus off individuals, so people worry less about what's good for them and talk more about what's good for everybody. And if enough people participate, political leaders will pay attention.
"We want to show that people showed up in scale," he says. "We had political balance, and we got something passed. It needs to be meaningful enough. But we've got to get something passed. We need to show that this actually can work, and then it will start to build on itself."
And getting people to at least listen to other ideas would be a step forward from where we are now.
"It's like the ship is slowly sinking, and you have people screaming at each other, yelling at whose fault it was, why the ship is sinking," Shue says. "I think now people are actually realizing, if we don't start working together quick, we're all going to go down together."
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