What We Believe

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We Are Patriots. We believe that America – for all its faults, historical and present-day – can still be a force for good in the world and for its citizens. But we understand our governing institutions are being hollowed out and our fellow citizens are disempowered and discouraged. 

It’s not just the “autocracy-curious” occupant of the White House. Our democratic decline dates back decades, and blame for it is broadly shared. Mindless partisans, corrupt politicians, predatory monopolists, foreign meddlers, irresponsible media moguls, ignorant voters. They all deserve our scorn. 

America is our responsibility. No one is coming to save us. We must eradicate what seem like chronic governance challenges, via either Constitutional amendments, new legislation, policy changes, or simply elevated citizenship. 

We believe average citizens are more likely to produce such solutions than creatures of the current system. Captured politicians want you to believe reform is too difficult, too complicated. We seek to convince you otherwise.

Previous generations of Americans created the world’s first continent-scale democratic government. They ended slavery, through the moral force of abolitionism and battlefield bravery. They instituted protections for the weakest members of society, and empowered inventors, businesspeople, engineers, journalists, and artists. 

They outlasted the Depression. They defeated imperialists, fascists, and communists. They created a middle class that was the envy of the world. They went to the moon. They built the transistor and the internet and connected the globe.

Some say Millennials are different from past generations. That we are too self-absorbed, too disconnected from current events, too distracted by technology, too atomized, too lazy, too selfish. 

We know that’s an unfair caricature. But if we are honest with ourselves, many of us do fear that our generation won’t measure up. We worry young people today are too harried, too daunted, too complacent, or too cynical. 

How can we bring about fundamental change against such odds? How can we, like past generations, leave America in better condition than we find it? 

This is how. I am asking you to join me in the work of restoring our institutions and our loyalties to one another. This is the work of our generation.