Christian Górecki is the head of the Unite America Movement, a non-profit dedicated to reducing polarization by bringing people of various beliefs and backgrounds together to discuss the issues that affect everyday people. In addition to hosting roundtable-style discussions on the different topics that affect current discourse, Christian also conducts man-on-the-street interviews, which offer a platform for people from all walks of life to make their voices heard. Christian’s objective is a breath of fresh air in a world of division, and his organization is innovative in pursuing its objective. Christian joins me to discuss the origins of the Unite America Movement, the way his non-profit sets out to accomplish its objective, the public reaction to the existence of such a non-profit and its objective, and the future of the Unite America Movement.
Grant Klusmann: Christian, I would like to begin this interview by asking what influenced you to establish the Unite America Movement.
Christian Górecki: Well, first, thanks for having me, Grant. It’s a pleasure. Yeah, so it was a combination of a bunch of things. So, when I first started going to college, it was an election year, basically. And I saw a lot of people, you know, wanting to shut down other people’s speech. That got me into politics. I joined a group that was doing a lot of free-speech activism. We did a free-speech ball, and we got a bunch of signatures. And we didn’t really have anyone who was against us. I think there was one person who said they didn’t support it. The administration, we told them we were doing it, and they're like, “Yeah, we don't support this, don't do it.” But then they came out and looked at it. And they’re like, all right, whatever, it’s fine. Like, they didn’t stop us or anything. And then, we got so many signatures that they switched the codes. So, that got me into politics. But then I realized that the group I was working with was mainly, you know, trying to just win people over to their ideology and farm them for labor. That makes sense because it’s politics, but it’s just something that was not conducive to healthy relationships. I saw many people dedicate their lives to that group and others. So, it wasn’t just a unique thing. I knew people on both sides of the aisle, like left-wing, right-wing, and in-between groups. And they all did the same thing. And I saw a lot of people basically ruin their lives. And I saw a lot of them become very bitter people. They were in their early twenties, and they’re basically like grumpy old men because they became so, you know, not willing to work with people who had different opinions from them because they just put themselves in an echo chamber. So that was part of it. And that’s when I started getting out of mainstream politics and thinking, “Okay, we need people actually to talk to each other to get anything done.” So that’s one aspect of it. Another aspect of it is I was studying Soviet history at the time, and just looking at the latter years of the Soviet Union, and the huge similarities between that like five, six-year period, and contemporary America over the last ten years, is pretty worrying. So that was part of the motivation. And then, I also had a few family members stop talking to each other because of stupid political disagreements that really didn’t matter. And it’s disappointing because it was the part of my family that’s super family values orientated. So, it’s not something I ever expected them to do. And, you know, it was having a negative impact on my life; it’s probably having a negative impact on other people’s lives in the same situation as mine. So that was what motivated me to want to do bridge building. And then, over the next three years, I really just kind of spitballed, but what can I do? How is it going to be? What's it going to be called? What are the aesthetics going to be? Do I do a bunch of different trial and error tests, you know, testing a bunch of things out? If something didn’t work, it started from the ground up and just kind of reinvented itself a bunch of times over. And, you know, after three years of trial and error, it became the Unite America Movement, or you can just say Unite if you want to be hip.
Grant Klusmann: Have you noticed a shift in the collective consciousness surrounding bridge building? Or has everyone come to the understanding that ideological bridges need to be built at different times?
Christian Górecki: There’s different waves. There was an early wave of people right after, let’s say, 2017 to 2018. Then, there was another wave before the 2020 election during COVID. And now, I would say it’s an easily understood thing with most people.
Grant Klusmann: Has anything from when you were younger influenced your method of bridge building?
Christian Górecki: Yeah, I’ve always been pretty artistic. I always have been really interested in photography, videography, entertainment, and things like that. And I’ve always, you know, wanted to make things that are productive but also cool. I was thinking about how you can appeal to people who normally wouldn't be into this type of stuff. I think that’s really important because you’re already going to get the people that are into this. So, it’s like, how do you reach the people that naturally wouldn’t be drawn to this? Or at least they’re not the type of person who thinks they would, or the algorithm does not think they are. So, it’s like, how do you reach those people? So, I think that’s kind of what sets me apart when it comes to branding and how we do things.
Grant Klusmann: Did you get support from your peers early on when you first went about bridge building?
Christian Górecki: Yeah, absolutely. Everyone loved it. I’ve never gotten really any pushback. I’ve had people be skeptical and ask if I think this is really going to work. And I’m like, “Well, that’s not really the point.” And they’re like, “Yeah, you’re right.” I think one guy on campus once yelled something at me when I was doing interviews. He yelled something like, “Revolution is better than unity!” And I’m like, “Well, what about a unified revolution?” So, he just didn’t understand what the group was about. I think he was under the impression that I was trying to make people centrists, which is not the case and not what I’m trying to do. But the fact that it’s called the Unite America Movement makes people think that, and that’s intentional because they come up and ask inquisitively and kind of skeptically what we are uniting around. And then I explain what it is, and they’re like, “Oh yeah, that’s really cool.” They assume it’s going to be something else. So, it’s kind of provocative in a way, but not in a way that’s explicitly offensive or anything like that.
Grant Klusmann: Have there been any inspirations for your particular method for hosting discussions?
Christian Górecki: Yeah, so I think it comes mainly from, like, criticizing other people that were doing this and looking at what they did wrong and coming up with solutions for those problems. So, I guess, like, you know, anyone who was doing those types of discussions was an inspiration. Jubilee is a really popular one that comes to mind, but plenty of YouTube channels and different political groups do it. I think the big problem they all have is everyone knows what the other people are. They know a lot of them are micro-influencers or just well-known people. That’s a problem because you’re going in there with a bias about the other person and the people if they can label themselves or if it’s just explicit, like, hey, these are the conservatives, these are the liberals, right, like, it’s going to turn into a debate. Even if they’re very cordial about it, it will still be a debate. And the debates are much different than discussions. They’re very different; debates are about winning, and discussions are about ideas. So, in many ways, with debates, it’s not that you can't have them; they are just entertainment.
Grant Klusmann: Where do you see your movement in the coming decades?
Christian Górecki: Hopefully, it’s not needed, right? Hopefully, it will just become a fun thing for people to do. That would be great. I don’t know if that'll happen. But I think it will always be, you know, probably somewhat necessary. I hope it becomes more mainstream.
Grant Klusmann: Well, I endorse this project of yours. I hope it succeeds, and we’ll see how it grows over time. I thank you for taking the time to participate in this interview.
Christian Górecki: Thank you. Thanks for having me. I had a great time.
Filed under grantkl.substack.com.
