No one is ever going to like everything that Congress does, but we should be able to believe that when it makes mistakes, it does so on the basis of stupidity or incompetence, or because there are too many Democrats there or too many Republicans—but not because of the money. But with special interests funneling millions of dollars into our elections—and a new Supreme Court ruling giving corporations and unions even more power to control our government—we can never have that confidence.

This isn’t a Democratic issue or a Republican issue—it’s a fundamental question about what kind of democracy we want to have. As we’ve watched presidents in both parties fail to pass their agendas, it’s become increasingly clear that elections are no longer where decisions are made in this country. A fortunate few, neither dependent on nor accountable to the people, control the direction of our government. That weakening of our democracy should frighten everyone equally, whether or not you support the people currently in power.

Our goal is to restore public trust in our government by passing a hybrid of small-dollar donations and public financing of elections.

FixCongressFirst.org is a project of Change Congress, a non-partisan advocacy organization whose sole purpose is to protect the independence of Congress by fighting the influence of money in politics.