Merkley unveils ‘Blueprint to Restore American Democracy’

“We need to restore our democracy. Right now, the privileged and powerful are running the show,” he said. “It’s time to make sure every American has a truly equal voice in the direction of our nation, and that we have a government that responds to the hopes and needs of working Americans.”

Merkley’s blueprint proposes passage of existing legislation — such as the DISCLOSE Act and the Voting Rights Advancement Act — and also proposes new bills to fill the gaps necessary to restore our democracy, which Merkley will introduce in the 116th Congress.

Specifically, the Merkley blueprint calls for:

From Merkley’s introduction to the Blueprint:

“Abraham Lincoln described the American experiment as ‘government of the people, by the people, and for the people.’ Yet, the federal government today is a far cry from that vision. Instead, our democracy has been corrupted by the privileged and powerful to ensure that it does not reflect the will of the people, but instead serves to further consolidate wealth and power among the minority who already have both.

“And as a result, our government has failed to take on the challenges that impact wide swaths of working America. People work longer hours, struggling to hold onto modest pay and benefits, while Wall Street gets extraordinarily wealthy.

“College and homeownership slide out of reach. Healthcare costs keep going up. Fossil fuel barons run our energy policy while ferocious storms, catastrophic forest fires and endless droughts wreck lives and livelihoods and compromise our children’s futures.

“We will be unable to address the big challenges we face as a nation — the ones that determine the America we leave our children creates more opportunity for a brighter future than the one we inherited — until we boldly and decisively reform our democracy.

“Dark money, extreme gerrymandering, voter suppression and the lack of equal representation have hijacked American democracy. This blueprint lays out specific legislative strategies that ‘We the People’ should take to counteract all of these tactics and create a democracy worthy of our nation’s great ideals.”