Inspiration from Oregon: The 1000 Twenties Project

It probably won't surprise you that most of the news we get in the door these days at You Street isn't all that positive. What with Big Pharma, Big Oil, Wall Street, and all the rest spending their hundreds of millions of dollars to influence lawmakers and ensure their needs are met in Congress, it seems like every day that some politician or another is selling out his constituents in favor of big money. A few million here, a few million there for pork barrel spending to benefit major contributors, for example — you know the drill.

That's why we are always excited to hear about elected officials who are taking a principled stand agains the special interests and engaging their constituents in the process. Take Ben Cannon, a young second-term state representative out in Portland, OR, who is putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to campaign finance reform. In his two campaigns, Ben hasn't taken a dime from PACs, corporations, or other special interest groups. Instead, he's gone directly to his constituents, coffee can in hand, to ask for small donations. Ben's recent "1,000 Twenties" project is an effort to fund his campaign entirely with the support of ordinary folks taking a small stake in his campaign and thereby setting a big example for how we can do things differently when it comes to putting the people first.

As Ben says on his website 1000twenties.com, "This is not simply about raising money. This is about changing the way we finance campaigns in Oregon and across the country. This is about changing the way that policy gets crafted by changing the way politics works. This is about showing candidates and office holders that it is possible to change business as usual."

And that's what You Street has been about from the start. The Fair Elections Now Act for publicly funded federal elections would make campaigns like Ben's the norm in Congress. It would mean that candidates say 'No' to all special interest money and only accept donations of $100 or less. For every donation they raise from their constituents, be it in coffee cans or online, they would get a generous match from the Fair Elections fund -- giving candidate and donor alike a powerful incentive to trade big money for citizen-funded campaigns.

Let's make candidates like Ben not the exception but the rule.