The People

The mission of The People is to bring Americans together to engage in civil discourse, establish and carry out nonpartisan governmental reforms. By doing so, we will live in a truly representative democracy. By activating all citizens and bringing our country together, one collective voice will be established and the average person can be heard. We will help individuals organize around common causes, rounding out strengths and weaknesses, and connecting them with others to accelerate their efforts. This will help us to facilitate productive dialogue between those with variation in beliefs and promote action to address needed governmental reforms.

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A growing and diversifying economy has 706,000 people living in the city, more than Vermont or Wyoming.

First vote by Congress for D.C. statehood lays the ground for next year

The House has voted for the first time to rectify one of the most counterintuitive quirks of American democracy:

People living in the national capital have less of a voice in the national government than all the rest of the nation — consigned to the same second-class status, taxation without representation, which sparked the Revolution that created the country.

Legislation to change that, by making the District of Columbia the 51st state, was approved 232-180 on Friday, the only passage of such a statehood measure by either chamber in the history of Congress.

But the almost purely party-line tally in the Democratic House will be the proposal's symbolically resonant high-water mark, at least for the year. That's because the Republican Senate had made plain it has zero interest in the measure, even before President Trump made explicit this week that he would veto it.

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The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has 31 proposals to improve democracy, including increasing membership in the House.

Panel started by Founders unveils big plan to save democracy they started

Expand the size of Congress. Place term limits on Supreme Court justices. Make voting mandatory.

These are just some of the more provocative recommendations for revitalizing our democracy from the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The 31 proposals, unveiled Thursday, come after two years of research into the system's dysfunction and deliberation about how to make it work better.

But the unveiling, as the 84-page report itself notes, also comes at a particularly stressful moment for an American democracy in which extreme partisanship has already crippled the government's ability to address important national problems.

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Democracy reform groups seize time of racial protest to press their cause

A week of escalating and violent protest against racial injustice has prompted democracy reform groups to start uniting behind a message that resonates with their own goals.

Responding to the wave of demonstrations against the deaths of black people killed by police, many of these organizations are reaching out to declare unequivocal support for the marchers. But their statements, which grew in volume Monday, are also seeking to connect the furious urgency of the moment to the pursuit of their sometimes more esoteric sounding agenda.

Achieving racial justice and fixing all that's broken with governance and politics are two sides of the same pursuit, they say. Giving all Americans an equal standing is a prerequisite to securing a democracy that works for all voters, but reducing the current imbalance in democratic power is at the same time a prerequisite for giving all voices a chance to be heard.

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Rebuilding our democracy in these pivotal times

Organizer: Issue One

The pandemic and the recent protests in cities across America have made it clear that our democracy is in need of a great reset. But what will it take to re-empower citizens by reforming our political systems, and where do we begin?

Issue One has been working tirelessly to ensure that no American has to choose between their vote and their health this November, while remaining focused on the big picture: laying the groundwork for winning major democracy reforms come January 2021. This panel will discuss putting country above party to renew our democratic systems and secure our upcoming elections. Participants include Issue One CEO Nick Penniman, Issue One ReFormers Caucus Co-chair Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN), Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Representative Rick Lazio (R-NY).

Location: Webinar