About You Street

Our government is not broken. It's fixed.

The deck is totally stacked in favor of big money — the powerful special interests and lobbyists who buy access and influence in Washington. Their big campaign contributions are why, year after year, nothing significant gets done to solve critical issues like health care, energy independence, education and the environment.

You Street is about getting big money out of our political process so that our elected officials can represent the only special interest that matters: America. To do that, we need to make voluntary public funding of all federal elections the law of the land.

The benefits are huge. Instead of spending about 1/3 of their time hustling for campaign donations, candidates can actually get out and connect with real voters. Once elected, our leaders will be free to focus on the nation's business instead of the next fund-raiser. And when financing a campaign is no longer such a daunting challenge, we'll be able to attract more of our most talented, public-spirited leaders to run for office.

And the cost? Incredibly, Congress would have to spend just $6 per citizen per year to publicly fund every single election for the House, the Senate and the White House. Think of it. Then think about the hundreds of billion of dollars in "pork barrel" projects that our representatives now use to reward their big campaign donors. It's no contest: public funding is a bargain!

You Street is an initiative of Americans for Campaign Reform, a non-profit, non-partisan group that is single-mindedly dedicated to public funding. We want Congress to pass legislation now. We know public funding works — it's already working in Arizona, Connecticut, and Maine. And we know we can mobilize grassroots support to make it happen.

It's up to you. As a citizen, you have seen the corrosive influence of big money on our political system. You have seen the devastating economic effects of letting special interests have their way in Washington. You can complain about it, or you can do something about it. Raise your voice and exert pressure on Congress to take action right now.