Madison McGuire

SUMMARY Unifying Theme: Hope for Consensus Across Party Lines: A Student Project While political partisans may not agree on much these days, 40 current and former elected officials interviewed by Vanderbilt students in the spring of 2021 agreed on leadership competencies to successfully work across the aisle, build coalitions and… Read More

From Bill Frist “I was there really, just because of public service. I wanted to serve the country…I wanted to have an impact. Instead of taking care of one patient one-on-one, I knew if I had good policy I could take care of thousands, hundreds of thousands and, ultimately, millions of people if… Read More

From Bill Frist “Probably one of the most important things I did was the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, which injected prescription drugs into Medicare for the first time. It was amazing to me, but being the only doctor in the Senate, I knew that prescription drugs were important to… Read More

Friends and fellow citizens,  As we all set off to gather with family and friends for Thanksgiving, the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy wants to offer words of wisdom on modeling civil conversations with loved ones. We spoke with Vanderbilt University Senior Lecturer and Director of Debate John Koch about… Read More

From Mayor David Holt “Mayors and councilmen in most cities know that we get to face all the voters. We don’t have to face a subset of the voters, and it just totally changes the way that we approach the job because we can build a coalition of normal, reasonable… Read More

From Mitch Weiss “When I was in government, I found many instances of great public servants coming together and making progress on the biggest challenges they saw.” – Mitch Weiss, former chief of staff and a partner to Boston’s Mayor Thomas Menino   Friends and fellow citizens,  Municipalities typically address issues and implement solutions… Read More

From Karla McKanders “What stood out to me was the varied level of advocacy in the briefs the government was writing and the briefs on behalf of immigrants, some of them pro se. To be able to do this type of work while inspiring students to take on pro bono cases or become… Read More

From Nic Adams “It’s a lot easier to find common ground with folks than people think.”-Nic Adams, Professional Staff Member & Advisor to Senator Cornyn, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Friends and fellow citizens,  Whether forging consensus on landmark legislation or job hunting on Capitol Hill, relationships matter, according to a… Read More

From Michael Newton: “The Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy is an important effort based on dialogue, based on facts, reason, dignity, and respect where dissent is embraced as an opportunity for learning and inquiry, and not just an opportunity to destroy.”  -Michael Newton, Professor of Law and Political Science at… Read More

From Paul Mango: “Sometime the American people confuse new information with misinformation. What we knew in January and February of 2020 is radically different about this [COVID-19] virus than what we know today.” – Paul Mango, former deputy chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services in the Trump Administration (2018-2021), where he managed Operation Warp Speed  Friends and fellow citizens,  Between… Read More