About Equal Citizens

Our democracy is broken. On every issue that matters, our leaders are unwilling — or unable — to take meaningful action. Time and again, we can see that what voters want does not matter.

As a result, most of America has turned away from politics. The biggest political party in America today is “none of the above.” And who could blame them?

The system is rigged to favor the powerful and well-connected. It ignores the voices of ordinary citizens. Our representative democracy has become so corrupted by this fundamental inequality, the only voices that our government listens to are the special interests who fund their campaigns, and the most partisan groups and individuals. The result is the governmental dysfunction we see today.

Every issue — from climate change to gun safety, from Wall Street reform to defense spending — is tied to this core inequality. The solution is to fix our government so all citizens are represented equally.

Equal Citizens has one simple but incredibly important mission: to fix democracy by establishing truly equal citizenship. Once we, as a nation, have done that, we may then take on all the other challenges facing us.

The good news is, since Congress created this problem, Congress can fix this problem. The legislation to do so has already been written. Now it’s simply a matter of making sure Congress hears our voices and acts to make us truly equal citizens.

Our vision of the reforms we need to fix our democracy:

CITIZEN FUNDED ELECTIONS

All citizens deserve an equal ability to choose our leaders.

End pay-to-play politics by changing the way we fund campaigns, using the best of Rep. John Sarbanes’ Government by the People Act, and Represent.US’s “American Anti-Corruption Act.” Specifically: 

• Give every voter a voucher to contribute to congressional and presidential campaigns.

• Provide matching funds for small-dollar contributions to congressional and presidential campaigns.
• Add effective restrictions on the revolving door between government service and work as a lobbyist.

EQUAL RIGHT TO VOTE

All citizens deserve equal access to the ballot.

• Guarantee the equal freedom to vote by passing bills like the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015 and the Voter Empowerment Act of 2015.
• Enact automatic voter registration.
• Make Election Day a national holiday.