Overview
Congress must get its house in order by passing bold reforms to help ensure it is working for the people—not for wealthy special interests.
Introduction and Summary
American democracy is at a crossroads, with most Americans believing that political corruption in Washington, D.C., is widespread, that members of Congress are in the pockets of wealthy special interests, and that the federal policymaking process does not represent the views of the people. Trust in government is near an all-time low,1 and Americans are demanding anti-corruption reforms that will make government more accountable to everyday people instead of to corporate lobbyists and the most well connected. A recent Center for American Progress report, “Bold Democracy Reforms That Build on H.R. 1,” examined a range of structural solutions that are needed to curb Washington’s culture of corruption and help ensure fair, democratic elections.2 In this report, the authors narrow their focus to a subset of those solutions designed to make members of Congress more responsive to the people who elect them.
One of the greatest threats to the United States’ experiment in democracy, anticipated by its founders, is corruption in its political system. John Adams captured this concern when he wrote: “Government is instituted for the common good, for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people, and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men.”3 Adams and his fellow revolutionaries recognized the dangerous potential for special interests to monopolize the government and to poison the trust that the public should have in its lawmakers.