Celebrating our 250th by establishing the US in U.S.
The US Principles Citizenship Experience is a 2026 CITIZENSHIP EVENT that calls individuals. classrooms & local groups across the country to privately consider & statistically establish those founding principles on which we agree.
All of US.
20 minutes of activated citizenship. A path to HOPE.
Asking what principles we hold sacred. ALL of US.
Multiple delivery mechanisms to suit each group & purpose
Multiple delivery mechanisms to suit each group & purpose
This 2026 sesquicentennial celebration is designed to do what we thought was impossible—create a rarified space and time in which individuals feel safe enough to openly express their opinions about what 2026 America should be.
- First, its fiercely bipartisan design faithfully records every point of view—from the farthest right to the farthest left.
- Participant input is private.
- Local follow-up. Classrooms, civic groups and/or individuals will have access to a discussion curriculum, games and/or multi-media interactions -
THEN...on or near the BIG BIRTHDAY, we will announce the results, and, TOGETHER, learn from each other HOW MUCH WE ARE ALIKE. What a reason to celebrate as we bring the US back into the U. S. of America.
Multiple delivery mechanisms to suit each group & purpose
Multiple delivery mechanisms to suit each group & purpose
Multiple delivery mechanisms to suit each group & purpose
The US Principles Initiative is convenient to access and customized to your technological preferences.
Choose the format that suits you or your group.
- Print.
- Online.
- The USPI Interactive Game (with versions for classrooms or adult groups).
- The Make Your Own Group Video invitation.
- A permanent, interactive exhibition in Washington, DC.
Citizenship across U.S. communities
Diversity-Designed by and for all of US
Diversity-Designed by and for all of US
The USPI opportunity for citizenship is tailored to diverse participant groups:
- High Schools
- Civic Groups
- College students
- Individual Users
- As a challenge to participation to local & national political figures, online influencers and VIPS. Disabilities & language accessible.
Diversity-Designed by and for all of US
Diversity-Designed by and for all of US
Diversity-Designed by and for all of US
USPI will be advised by, seek out participation from & accommodate the needs of:
- Recent and historical immigrant groups,
- Indigenous Americans,
- Representative education levels;
- People with disabilities,
- People whose families have been in the U.S. a long time, and
- Those of varied socio-economic, geographical and political orientations.
How USPI Works
I. Participants enter into CITIZENSHIP.
- Individuals indicate how much they agree with each of the quotes;
- Think through what kind of person said them.
II. The Scavenger Hunt—who said what?!
- Using their phones - participants go on a "scavenger hunt" through the museum to discover which historical & contemporary leader said them
- Q-codes by each painting refer them to the full context of the quote, history of the speaker, etc.).
III. Real-time entry of held principles into national database
- The activity produces a statistically reliable list of principles that all Americans hold in common.
- A 3 min. demonstration provides full illustration & verification of the process.(Available upon request.)
Community-wide activity. Measurable Results.
Embedded research strategies
Attitude change and its measurement are designed into this experience.
We know this works.
The USPI model has been beta-tested over 300 times. Throughout, results painted a measurable picture of surprise, shared principles and healing.
Typically, participants who agreed or strongly agreed with a given quotation—and then discovered its origin to be someone in the OPPOSING camp—reported
- Significant drops in their animosity toward those sources and
- Feeling less justified in previous levels of partisanship and demonization.
- They also widely reported feeling manipulated toward demonization by politicians and the media.
This data is solid because it is gathered anonymously.
USPI anonymously captures each individual's (a) self-identification as very conservative, conservative, moderate, liberal or very liberal, (b) degree of agreement with each contemporary statement, (c) felt attribution of each quote to a Democrat or Republican, and (d) post-input self-reports on the attitudinal impact of participating. As a result, each event and its tools will statistically establish which statements of principle are agreed upon across political orientations (and other demographic identifiers) and capture any attendee attitude change that results. Local results will also be compared with nationwide data to date.
President George Washington, from his final speech.
“The Unity of Government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. ... But, as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, many pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth, ... it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our Country from the rest."
Elizabeth McClancy, Creative Director
Until 18 years ago, Elizabeth McClancy designed and implemented international and domestic social-change initiatives. She has 35 years of experience in strategic curriculum design for business, NGO-, government- and educational-curriculum. McClancy holds a masters degree in interpersonal & organizational communication and a doctorate in the application of persuasion theory to curriculum design and implementation.
In November of 2005, she painted her first-ever painting. Her husband, who had been at the center of the NY art world for 30 years, immediately saw that something profound was going on. "No [way]! Do it again." By the third canvas, she knew her art work would form the centerpiece of social change initiatives. Her acclaimed work has had major exhibitions in Chicago and Washington, DC.
McClancy is the author of An Orchestra of Voices, which was nominated for the National Press Club's 2002 International Press Freedom Award (Praeger Press, 2002) and Democratic Principles: Portraits & Essays (with Foreword by John F. Kerry), 2008. She is currently working on a memoir and a leadership book. She currently lives in the U.S. and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
Milton Glaser, Contributor
Milton Glaser (b.1929. d. 2021) has been among the most celebrated graphic designers in the United States. He has had the distinction of one-man-shows at the Museum of Modern Art and the Georges Pompidou Center. He was selected for the lifetime achievement award of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum (2004) and the Fulbright Association (2011), and in 2009 he was the first graphic designer to receive the National Medal of the Arts award. As a Fulbright scholar, Glaser studied with the painter, Giorgio Morandi in Bologna, and is an articulate spokesman for the ethical practice of design. He opened Milton Glaser, Inc. in 1974, and continues to produce a prolific amount of work in many fields of design to this day.
In regard to this project, Milton Glaser was a life-long friend of the Director`s husband, George McClancy. Shortly after her husband`s death in 2014, McClancy emailed her intersecting red-U/blue-S logo concept to Mr. Glaser with the following plea, “George McClancy`s widow needs your eye on this.“ In 45 minutes, he shot back what is now the USPI logo. Such brilliance. Such generosity.
Rick Hall, Multimedia & Smart Phone Interaction Advisor
Rick Hall understood the potential of USPI from the first meeting. Rick has been in the gaming industry for fifteen years. With a degree in Electronic engineering from The Pennsylvania State University, he worked for four years in the automated test industry before becoming a programmer for. Over the course of the next nine years, Paragon Software Software changed hands before finally becoming the core development studio for Take 2 Interactive Software in 1994. Within three years, Take 2 went public, and last year grossed over $300 million in revenues. Rick started out as a programmer, moved on to game designer, producer, and eventually ran Take 2's Gearhead development studio. Along the way, he worked on numerous game genres, including space flight sims, RTS, action/adventure games, graphic adventures, 3D fighting games, flight sims, puzzle games, and even a fishing simulation. His experience also spanned multiple platforms including the PC, Nintendo 64, and Sony Playstation. After moving to Origin Systems in 1999 and earning two years of experience in the online space, he was named OSIs MVP of the year 2000 and is now currently the Senior Producer for Ultima Online Live. His credits include: Challenge of the Five Realms, F15IIICD, Star Crusader, Bureau 13, Iron & Blood, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Basshunter 64, Ripper, Black Dahlia, Jetfighter: Full Burn, Ultima Online: Renaissance, and Ultima Online: Third Dawn.
Jay Van Buren, Web & Interactive Technology Advisor
Jay has been Senior Web Designer for the Forbes Favorite award-winning Multex Investor website; Designer at thirdmind.com, where he worked on websites for major international brands such as Conde-Nast magazines; and Art Director at Sensei Health, coordinating programs for major multinational companies. Jay is the Founder and CEO of Early-Adopter, Inc., a New York City-based web design firm specializing in partnerships that create meaningful projects with focused purpose.
TBD
USPI will work with The Primary Sponsor to name additional Team Members
- Appropriate Curriculum Specialists
- Marketing
- Event Planning
- University partner(s) to establish internships in data collection and distribution
- Secondary Sponsor Partners that clearly represent opposing sides of the political spectrum (Heritage Center/Center for American Democracy, FOX/MSNBC, etc.)