How to turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans

Such is the title of a great article in the Atlantic magazine. The article clearly articulates why the US political system is completely broken, and not even close to a "democracy".  In my view, the system has devolved into a religious war - there is no room for compromise, intelligence, facts, or the good of the people.  There is only room for bickering, hard stances, and 100% faith in your party.

As many of the comments point out, while the article outlines some ideas for fixing the system...it gives no guidance as to "how."  Obama's social media campaign in the last election was largely one-way: he broadcast his message to people through SMS and twitter.  Perhaps two-way social media is now at a point where average people can have their voices heard.  That said, Google Groups or Facebook Groups don't seem to be organized enough, or mature enough, to handle the task of synthesizing the voice of large groups of individuals into something cohesive and comprehensible.  I am sure that attempts at such systems exist on the Web, but none of them spring to mind to me.  Hopefully there is a start-up out there with this as their goal.