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Political Cartoon of the Week | July 22, 2021

The widespread effects of big money political spending make it nearly impossible to ignore. Cartoonists, noticing the myriad connections between such spending and the issues plaguing our nation, have used their craft to highlight how big money corrupts our democracy, advances warfare, furthers climate change and, in general,… Read more

Maine Business Leaders Unite to Get Money Out of Politics: Over 100 Business Leaders Sign Stand with Maine Pledge | July 1, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE              Wednesday, June 30, 2021 Contact: Gregory Joseph, American Promise Communications Director [email protected] 646-346-4289 MAINE BUSINESS LEADERS UNITE TO GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS OVER 100 BUSINESS LEADERS SIGN STAND WITH MAINE PLEDGE American Promise, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to passing a constitutional amendment… Read more

Meet Our New Team Member: John McCrea | June 23, 2021

John McCrea recently joined American Promise as our new Business Network Manager. In this role, John will help connect members of the business community who are concerned by the corrosive influence of unlimited political spending with the American Promise movement for a 28th Amendment. While large corporations often… Read more

Longtime Educator Ted Knapke: How Big Money Leads to Systemic Inequalities in Public Education | June 23, 2021

In his roles with public school districts in Ohio and North Carolina, Ted Knapke saw firsthand how wealthy corporations and the executives in charge used political donations to curry favor with policymakers — to the detriment of students, their families, and other taxpayers.  Access to quality public education… Read more

Juneteenth Events Offer a Look at History and Reminder of the Work That Remains | June 7, 2021

Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of enslaved people in Galveston, Texas — the last to learn of emancipation — on June 19, 1865, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation at the start of 1863 amid the Civil War. In the decades since, Juneteenth… Read more

Meet Our New Team Member: Alan LaPolice | May 26, 2021

Our new States Manger Alan LaPolice, a Kansas farmer, educator, and veteran, will help us advance the 28th Amendment at the local and state level across the nation. Alan is an independent-minded individual who has run for political office numerous times with different partisan affiliations. He joined American… Read more

Jeff Clements: Campaign Finance Reform Will Help Break the Two-Party Duopoly, Empower Voters | May 25, 2021

In a recent episode of Toppling the Duopoly, produced by IVN Network and hosted by Shawn Griffiths, American Promise President Jeff Clements discussed the American Promise Amendment to end unlimited political spending as it relates to giving voters a greater choice in our elections and ending hyper-partisan politics. Read more

New Report Reveals Wealthy Out-of-State Donors and Washington Insiders Financed and Orchestrated Maine’s 2020 U.S. Senate Election | April 19, 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE              Friday, April 16, 2021 Contact: Gregory Joseph, American Promise, Communications Director [email protected] 646-346-4289 NEW REPORT REVEALS WEALTHY OUT-OF-STATE DONORS AND WASHINGTON INSIDERS FINANCED AND ORCHESTRATED MAINE’S 2020 U.S. SENATE ELECTION American Promise, a national non-profit organization dedicated to passing a constitutional amendment to end… Read more

Jeff Clements: Big Money in Politics Is Squashing Innovation, Investment, and Equal Representation for Businesses | April 14, 2021

Unlimited political spending has dire effects across society and the economy. Outsized spending from the wealthiest industries, corporations and individuals means small business owners don’t have an equal voice or representation in our political system, creating a top-heavy economy that favors large-scale multinational corporations with access to concentrated… Read more

Spiral of Silence Video by Noah Hutton | April 7, 2021

Despite the prevailing narrative that Americans are hopelessly divided on every issue, there is one thing that 75% of Americans agree on — ending big money in politics. Unlimited political spending has forced us into a Spiral of Silence, where we feel that we are powerless to make change. Read more

Gregory Joseph: ‘Once the money is out of politics, then we’ll see a more representative government’ | March 30, 2021

The most important issue we are facing as a country is our ever-shrinking democracy, says American Promise Communications Director Gregory Joseph. That is why “American Promise is having conversations at kitchen tables and boardrooms across the country—from Maine to Alaska and all parts in between—to talk about the… Read more

Donor Spotlight: Barbara Fleischman | March 22, 2021

Barbara Fleischman is a professional volunteer and philanthropist who is currently a trustee for the New York Public Library, The Frick Collection and the Juilliard School. Barbara is Board Chair Emerita for the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art, founded by her husband Lawrence A. Fleischman and considered… Read more

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Special Content Pages:

Brian Boyle: An Amendment to Center “We the People” in Our Constitution

America is in crisis. The convergence in 2020 of the Covid-19 pandemic and the interrelated crises of economy, racial justice, political violence, climate disasters, and a collapse of trust has laid bare the danger and high stakes we Americans now face. Our constitutional democracy and commitment to the American promise of human liberty, equal citizenship, and effective self-government are in urgent need of repair and renewal. Read More

Keep the Promise: America250

America is in crisis. The convergence in 2020 of the Covid-19 pandemic and the interrelated crises of economy, racial justice, political violence, climate disasters, and a collapse of trust has laid bare the danger and high stakes we Americans now face. Our constitutional democracy and commitment to the American promise of human liberty, equal citizenship, and effective self-government are in urgent need of repair and renewal. Read More

#ChallengeAccepted: The American Promise Amendment + Reinventing Democracy for the 21st Century

Americans are in a huge moment of possibility for profound reform, and in that we can find hope. In the midst of systemic failures—in our economy, society, government—American citizens are rising to the challenge of reshaping our democracy for the 21st century and beyond. Read More

Building Support in Congress

Passing a constitutional amendment is difficult by design: the only way to achieve it is with widespread, cross-partisan support driven by grassroots action. While there are two routes to passing a constitutional amendment, only one method has ever been successfully used—acquiring two-thirds support from both houses of Congress and approval by three-quarters of the states. Read More

Money in Politics and Health Care

Big money political spending affects all facets of our society, including our nation’s health-care system. Lobbying from health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and other health care-related interests has resulted in a dysfunctional system that is more expensive and provides less coverage than those in other developed countries. Read more

A History of People Power

Throughout our nation’s history, citizen leaders have coalesced around reform movements that expand our fundamental rights to broader coalitions of Americans and improve our democratic self-governance—often through the amendment process. Read more

7 Critical Democracy Reforms: Which Are Most Important to You?

There are several election reforms at the core of the nascent democracy movement growing in the United States, and the prospect that we need to pass constitutional amendments to fix some of the structural issues is gaining traction. Read more
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