On July 5, I woke up with a lovely, open vista kind of feeling. I’d been working toward the 250th birthday of the nation as a finish line for a whole set of projects for nearly a decade. As a co-chair of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship since 2017, I’d been targeting that date to make significant progress on a wide-ranging national democracy renovation project. As the leader of a civic education provider and partner to many in the field, I’d been driving progress toward goals tethered to the semiquincentennial (yes, that word!). Given the state of our nation, you might expect that on the day after the 4th, I’d have been feeling a sense of dismay and despair at aspirations thwarted.
I didn’t. Instead, I felt uplifted with a blooming sense of possibility — as if July 5 were a starting line, not the morning after. I feel that we are on the threshold of an era of tremendous reform. There are now nearly 7,500 of you reading this Substack. I hear from several of you every day, sharing gratitude for the new possibilities you’re seeing and specific examples of renovation projects you’re working on. As I wrote in the New York Times, civic learning is on the rebound.
And I think that within the decade, we are going to see the first constitutional amendment in generations. The For Our Freedom Amendment is designed to reduce the effects of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision on the role that money plays in our politics. Its operative heart is this:
Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to forbid Congress or the States, within their respective jurisdictions, from reasonably regulating and limiting contributions and spending in campaigns, elections, or ballot measures….Congress and the States …. may distinguish between natural persons and artificial entities, including by prohibiting artificial entities from raising and spending money in campaigns, elections, or ballot measures.
You can read the full three-section text at American Promise, the organization leading the fully cross-partisan campaign to secure this amendment. So far, American Promise has secured resolutions from twenty-five state legislatures calling on Congress to initiate the amendment process; the most recent states to pass these resolutions were Oklahoma and Idaho. And in June, Rep. Tom Barrett, a Michigan Republican, introduced House Joint Resolution 191 in Congress, adopting the amendment’s language nearly verbatim.
So how can you take the next step to add more energy and power to the democracy renovation movement? What contribution can you make to transforming our democracy so that we can have a government for the people because it is by the people, even under 21st-century conditions?
Step 1: I want you to read an incredibly witty, moving, and important book by Daniel Squadron, co-founder of the States Project, called The Fourth Branch: How State Government Can Save Our Union. (Disclosure: I serve on the board for Future Now, where Daniel is CEO and which is affiliated with the States Project.) This book will help you achieve one of the most important mindset transformations we all need if we’re going to get out of the rut we’ve gotten into: shifting your focus from federal elections and politics to state elections and state politics.
Remember, states have a far greater impact on health, safety, education, climate, and election administration than the federal government. Start there, read Daniel’s book, and you’ll find the case for states is even deeper and richer than that. They are also where YOU can make a difference by helping bring even a small number of voters back into the political process. Elections really are decided by tens and hundreds of votes at the state level, and can swing entire political systems, with big impacts on everything else we do.
Daniel served in the New York State Senate from 2009 to 2017, then resigned his seat to start an organization dedicated to building politically powerful coalitions at the state level around America’s founding promise: the proposition that all people are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that representative democracy, fair markets, personal liberties, and effective governance should be protecting and securing just that. That means harnessing the very significant power of state government to tackle issues of housing, clean water, good schools, and all the basic building blocks of human flourishing.
While the network is mostly Democrats, there are some Republicans in it too — a living example of the Loyal Opposition in action: organizing through electoral competition within the system, rather than against the system itself. It’s a powerful counter to rising authoritarianism. The States Project is now the most significant supporter of state candidates in legislative races around the country.
Step 2: Go track down information about the state legislative races in your area for this November to learn more about your choices and about where you can make a difference. Ballotpedia’s sample ballot lookup is an easy place to start — enter your address and you’ll see every race you’ll be voting on. Your state’s Secretary of State’s office should also have resources to help you get going on understanding your state elections, if need be.
Step 3: Learn about what actions you can take on the For Our Freedom Constitutional Amendment via American Promise’s website HERE.
Step 4: Learn about the volunteer-led and -driven Giving Circles supported by the States Project that are powering important transformations in state politics, and consider joining one or starting one yourself. You can learn all about Giving Circles here.
I’m pretty sure we’re standing on the threshold of the Age of Democracy Renovation. The 250th was the starting gun, not the finish line.
Check out The States Forum:
And, in case you missed it— this week we’re sending out signed copies of Danielle Allen’s new book “Radical Duke”:
The Washington Elm
Legend has it that George Washington first drew his sword for the American army under a venerable Elm tree in Cambridge Common. Grafts and saplings of the Washington Elm are planted all across America; descendants have grown strong.
The keyword there is reasonable.
If you undercut the concept of corporate personhood, you basically make corporations unable to exist. Imagine such a world: no Apple, no Microsoft, no GM, no Ford. Well, you don’t have to imagine it. All you have to do is look at the communist countries like North Korea, Cuba, and the old Soviet Union; is that what we want? I think not, but that’s what the DSA wants. That’s what Bernie Sanders wants. They want state ownership of private enterprises, which is basically theft. Corporations are entitled to protect themselves from such thieves with free speech, which is how we got to where we are today, and rightly so.
Critics of money in politics fail to realize that money from corporations and large conservative donors tends to serve as a moderating influence on the populism that would bring people like the crazy DSA contingent into government, lunatics who would eventually drive us down the road to the serfdom of communism. It’s a one-way trip. As the saying goes, you can vote your way into socialism, but you have to shoot your way out.
The success of DSA actually undercuts your whole thesis. These people do not have big money. They certainly don’t get it from corporations; however, they do get it from billionaires, but those apparently are good billionaires like George Soros and JB Pritzker. Where do you think they got their money from corporations? The hypocrisy is as rich as the leftist donors.
I would strongly oppose your proposed amendment. I certainly hope the most reasonable, sensible centrists would as well.