About Us
Democracy Is For People
Democracy Is For People is a project of Public Citizen. Since our founding in 1971, Public Citizen has served as the people’s voice in the nation’s capital, working to ensure that all citizens are represented in the halls of power.
Because the government should serve voters, not corporate interests, Public Citizen pushes to curb the influence of money in politics by exposing the influence of big corporations on government, pushing to open the government to public scrutiny and holding public officials accountable for their misdeeds. We do this by engaging citizens in grassroots efforts, undertaking groundbreaking, data-driven research and championing citizen interests before Congress, the executive branch agencies and the courts.
A major focus of our work has been building a movement to counteract the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, take democracy off the auction block and preserve constitutional rights for people – not corporations. Our big push is for a constitutional amendment to overturn the decision, which was handed down on Jan. 21, 2010.
Our #GetMoneyOut movement also actively opposes the U.S. Supreme Court’s subsequent ruling in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission – handed down on Apr. 2, 2014. In that case, SCOTUS knocked down limits on the cumulative total of contributions a person may make to candidates, political parties and political action committees. We have organized rallies across the country in opposition to that ruling, which, according to Justice Stephen Breyer, “creat[es] a loophole that will allow a single individual to contribute millions of dollars to a political party or to a candidate’s campaign.” Our proposed Democracy For All amendment would also overturn that decision.
We also are working on other fronts to curb the influence of money in politics. We are calling for public financing of congressional elections and the disclosure of the identities of donors who now can remain anonymous. We are pressing President Barack Obama to issue an executive order requiring companies that do business with the federal government to fully disclose their political contributions.
Public Citizen does not participate in partisan political activities or endorse any candidates for elected office. We accept no government or corporate money – we rely solely on foundation grants, publication sales and individual contributions from our members and supporters.