We need to learn to govern ourselves again.
There are 7,591 words in the Constitution of the United States; politics is not one of them. Yet too often today, the campaigning never stops and the governing never begins. To make progress, we must fix our broken politics.
Corruption and dysfunction in Washington not only destroy the American people’s trust in government but also prevent us from making critical decisions for our future. For too long, we have allowed a tyranny of the minority—whether the extremist so-called Freedom Caucus or a handful of billionaires who drop tens of millions of dollars into political campaigns—to override the will of the American people.
When the Supreme Court, in the Citizens United decision, allowed the influence of unlimited dark money from billionaires into our politics, they took a narrow and misguided view of how money corrupts Washington. More common than politicians acting at the direct request of their donors is a widespread corruption of inaction, in which politicians do nothing to solve critical problems—like climate change or soaring health care costs—for fear of having millions of dollars spent against them in their next campaign.
We need to restore trust in our government by dismantling pay-to-play politics, increasing transparency, and reinvigorating the democratic process. Michael will ban Members of Congress from ever becoming lobbyists and overturn Citizens United to get unlimited dark money out of politics. He also will protect the right to vote, ensure the security of our elections, and reduce extreme partisanship in our electoral process—starting with his plan to make partisan gerrymandering illegal. Voters should choose their elected officials, not the other way around.
