Strengthening democracy
This campaign is about strengthening our democracy by getting big money out of politics, starting with grassroots fundraising and no donations from corporate PACs, and upgrading our political system to be more responsive to and representative of everyday Americans.
Getting money out of politics–particularly corporate money—is the first step to redesigning our democracy. In 2010, the Supreme Court, in Citizens United v. FEC, ruled1 that it was unconstitutional to ban corporations from making independent expenditures in federal elections. This enabled the wealthiest people and corporations in the United States to legally influence our political process to the exclusion of the desires of everyday voters. Today, public trust in government is at historic lows2 with only 17% that say “they can trust the government in Washington to do what is right”.
Fully 70% of Americans support3 a policy of Medicare-for-all, yet our representative in San Francisco votes not with the voters4, but instead with for-profit insurance companies and health professionals who donate to her campaign5. What does that say about our representative democracy? Agatha will be the first candidate in Congress whose legislative agenda will reflect the people’s interest. We have the tools for the strongest democracy in the world, but the current system – gerrymandered, influenced by corporate money, not representative of the voice of the people, – keeps us from reaching that goal.
Our country was founded on the premise of upgrading from a monarchy rule by one person, to representative rule by congress who reflect the 1%—and money. We now have the tools and technology to upgrade our democracy to represent the 100%.