Overview

Progressive States is committed to a society where all are equal both under the law and in our economic institutions. Fair Elections are one key to that goal where:

• Everyone should have equal Voting Rights and we should implement systems like mail-in voting or same day registration to lower the barriers to participation.
• Elections should be publicly financed through Clean Elections where individual preferences, not economic resources, determine the victor, and where companies are barred from financing elections one day and receiving government contracts the next.
• Ballot Initiative Reforms should promote citizen participation not corporate special pleading in initiatives and referenda.

Beyond election day, we need a society that promotes robust debate and protects individual rights and liberties:

• Every person should be secure that their Civil Liberties, including freedom of speech and a right to a fair trial, will be protected.
• People who suffer harm by either government or private economic actors should have full and effective Access to the Courts to achieve a just resolution
• We should promote a more diverse and robust Democratic Media, including promoting greater access to the new technologies for all citizens, in order to assure that alternative voices have a greater chance to be heard.
• Every person should have a Public Right to Know government and corporate information critical to democratic participation and to their family's health and safety.

This commitment to democracy should extend to creating greater Economic Democracy where:

• Workers should have a greater voice in their workplaces.
• Communities should have a greater voice in controlling their economic destinies.
• Individuals through their pensions and other investment vehicles should have greater democratic control of corporate decision-making.

All these democratic commitments should extend from city hall to the federal government in a system of Progressive Federalism where the national government creates strong minimum standards to protect individuals, while giving state and local government the flexibility to create innovative solutions locally.