American Promise
Mission: To empower, inspire, and organize all Americans to win the cause of our time: the 28th Amendment and historic reform to deliver our politics and government from the corrupting influence of concentrated money, corporations, trade groups, and super PACs over the rights of individual citizens and the interests of the nation.
American Promise is a fiercely non-partisan, member-based network of citizens of all political viewpoints coming together to overturn Citizens United and end the domination of big money and special interests in our elections and government. It advocates for a 28th amendment that would re-establish constitutional rights for human beings, equal citizenship, and self-government for all Americans. Its members take action locally and connect with one another nationally.
Year Founded: 2016 • americanpromise.net
Current Democracy Work
American Promise is hosting the first annual National Citizen Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., September 30 to October 2. The Leadership Conference aims to build unity and momentum towards a constitutional amendment that returns control of our national destiny to the American people. The conference program, speakers, citizen and congressional award presentations are deliberately cross partisan. American Promise also runs Ready to Ratify, a petition program across the nation to begin to gather petitions across vectors from business, faith, education, and others.
Recent Successes
In July 2016, the St. Petersburg, FL, City Council voted 6-1 to move forward on American Promise’s proposed ordinance to abolish super PACs and ban foreign corporate money in local elections. American Promise-Tampa Bay, the League of Women Voters of St. Petersburg, and other allies played a critical role in showing public support for this proposed ordinance. In June 2016, American Promise produced and released its Amendments in America video featuring Doris Kearns Goodwin that aims to educate the electorate about the necessity of amending the constitution when the Supreme Court makes wrong-headed decisions, as in Citizens United v. FEC and others. July 25 2016: Op Ed by American Promise President Jeff Clements in USNEWS; July 31 2016: Op ed by Jeff Clements & Retired Federal Judge, Jim Nelson in Billings Gazette.
Your Entry Points
Check out American Promise’s online tools and information. Sign up for its bi-monthly digest, ON THE MOVE, to learn about the work its our members and progress in the movement across the country. Hop on weekly calls to action to discover how to "do what's doable." Join an American Promise Association (APA) near you and find out new ways to participate through organizing, strengthening, and celebrating local action. Through your APA, connect with other AP Citizens through AP Connect—a member forum for in depth discussion, collaboration, and amplification of success stories across the country.